Taimoor Rana is seasoned criminal defense attorney specializing in DUI related cases. He shares his expert legal opinion here « Difference between DUI and DWI
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- Both DUI and DWI refer to drive a motor vehicle while the driving person had taken either illegal drugs or alcohol. The biggest difference between the two terms is what the letters stand for.
DWI is an abbreviation for driving while intoxicated or impaired, while DUI stands for driving under the influence. Throughout the US, the laws to deal with DUI’s and/or DWI’s vary.
Following things are elaborated in a 2006 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report, published in the centers for disease control and prevention (CDC) website:
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In the U.S.16, 885 people died in alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents, this represents 39% of all traffic-related deaths.
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Every year nearly 1.4 million drivers were arrested by the cops for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. This is less than one percent of the 159 million self-reported events of alcohol–impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.
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About 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths are caused due to the involvement of drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine). These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol.
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The number of Male drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes are almost twice as compared to female drivers to be intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or greater. In all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, it is considered to be illegal to drive with a BAC of 0.08% or higher.
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The risk of being involved in a crash is greater for young people as compared to older people at all levels of blood alcohol concentration. Sixteen percent of drivers whose ages range from 16 to 20 died in motor vehicle crashes had been drinking alcohol.
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It is reported that young men of ages 18 to 20 (under the legal drinking age) were driving while impaired more frequently than any other age group.
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Those motorcycle drivers who killed in fatal crashes, 30% of them have BACs of 0.08% or greater.
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Nearly half of the motorcyclist of ages 40 or older killed each year due to alcohol-impaired, and motorcyclists of ages 40 to 44 years have the highest percentage of fatalities with BACs of 0.08% or greater.
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21% involved alcohol in 1,946 traffic fatalities among children ages 0 to 14 years.
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Those with BAC levels of 0.08% or higher have nine times more probability to have a prior conviction for driving while impaired (DWI) then the drivers who had not consumed alcohol, among drivers involved in fatal accidents.
Between a DUI and DWI some of the states differentiate, in those states the DUI is the lesser charge. There, a DUI usually represents a lesser degree of intoxication; this is determined by a person’s blood alcohol level at the time of arrest. Sometimes it can happen that, states will allow the charges of a DWI to be reduced to a DUI by taking help of a defense attorney.
There is no difference between a DUI and DWI for some states, like Virginia and New Jersey. On the other hand in Minnesota, there is technically no such thing as a DUI because they only use the term DWI. The distinction is drawn based on severity for the federal government.
A DWI is issued to a person when the blood alcohol content (BAC) is over the 0.08 limit, whereas a DUI is considered to be a less severe term as it is given when a person’s BAC is under 0.08.
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