Category Archives: Vehicle Code

DUI Requires Breathalyzer

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Starting next month, Los Angeles will be one of four counties to require all licensed drivers found guilty of a DUI to have a breathalyzer placed in their vehicles.  If a driver breathes into the breathalyzer and has alcohol on their breath, their car won’t start.  The pilot program will last five years and will track whether or not the devices have an impact in reducing the number of drunk drivers that are repeat offenders.

The cost of the breathalyzer is  $75 for installation and $50 a month for monitoring the system, for low income people. The owner of a breathalyzer company wonders about people that can afford cars and to get drunk, but not the cost of the monitoring system.

For a first offense, a driver must have the breathalyzer lock installed for five months. For a second offender, a year. For a third time offender, two years.

Court – Mistake

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If you got a ticket for speeding based on a radar gun and you decide to fight it in court, here are somethings to know:

The officer will testify that he has successfully completed a radar operator course not less than 24 hours approved and certified by the Commission of Peace Officer Standards and Training. He will testify that the device meets or exceeds the minimum operational standard of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and that it was calibrated recently by an independent certified laser/radar repair and testing/calibration facility.

He will come with and provide the court and you will all his certificates. He will provide the Court with the Engineering Traffic Survey report for the area you got caught pulled over at. The ETS tells the court the considered dangerous speed at the area you were allegedly speeding at.

Knowing all of this, what you shouldn’t do (and I have seen this happen many of times):

1. Ask the officer if his radar is working properly
2. Could other cars around you affect the radar ability to track your correct speed?
3. On a curve or turn, don’t ask him if he caught tracked your speed when your car was not at a straight away.
4. Don’t ask him set up questions that allow him to validate or substantiate that he did his job correctly.

The officer is going to answer any question that ask if he did his job correctly in the affirmative.

You are going to need to do better. Remember, you are on trial and you need to put up your defense. If you did your job right, you would have already asked for all the documents about his credentials, the radar certificates, and ETS; and obtained prior to trial – so you would already know after reviewing them if they are in good standing.

So you can assume that he will do his job and testify all the necessary points that will support your conviction. So you will need to read the vehicle code that is the basis of your ticket and see why you didn’t violate that section, or despite dangerous speed limit set in the ETS you were driving reasonably because you were going with the flow of traffic, and etc.

We will get into this more but I wanted to first point out things you should not do in court because I have seen too many people make this mistake.

Vehicle Code 12810

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Vehicle Code 12810 is the section that gives the DMV the authority to access points on
our driving records.  As you can see if you read the statute, it sets forth how many points
are assigned for each violation.

In determining the violation point count, the following
shall apply:
   (a) A conviction of failure to stop in the event of an accident in
violation of Section 20001 or 20002 shall be given a value of two
points.
   (b) A conviction of a violation of Section 23152 or 23153 shall be
given a value of two points.
   (c) A conviction of reckless driving shall be given a value of two
points.
   (d) (1) A conviction of a violation of subdivision (b) of Section
191.5 or subdivision (c) of Section 192 of the Penal Code, or of
Section 2800.2 or 2800.3, subdivision (b) of Section 21651,
subdivision (b) of Section 22348, subdivision (a) or (c) of Section
23109, Section 23109.1, or Section 31602 of this code, shall be given
a value of two points.
   (2) A conviction of a violation of subdivision (a) or (b) of
Section 23140 shall be given a value of two points.
   (e) A conviction of a violation of Section 14601, 14601.1,
14601.2, 14601.3, or 14601.5 shall be given a value of two points.
   (f) Except as provided in subdivision (i), any other traffic
conviction involving the safe operation of a motor vehicle upon the
highway shall be given a value of one point.
   (g) A traffic accident in which the operator is deemed by the
department to be responsible shall be given a value of one point.
   (h) A conviction of a violation of Section 27360 or 27360.5 shall
be given a value of one point.
   (i) (1) A violation of paragraph (1), (2), (3), or (5) of
subdivision (b) of Section 40001 shall not result in a violation
point count being given to the driver if the driver is not the owner
of the vehicle.
   (2) A conviction of a violation of paragraph (1) or (2) of
subdivision (b) of Section 12814.6, subdivision (a) of Section 21116,
Section 21207.5, 21708, 21710, 21716, 23120, 24800, or 26707 shall
not be given a violation point count.
   (3) A violation of subdivision (d) of Section 21712 shall not
result in a violation point count.
   (4) A violation of Section 23136 shall not result in a violation
point count.
   (5) A violation of Section 38301.3 shall not result in a violation
point count.
   (j) A conviction for only one violation arising from one occasion
of arrest or citation shall be counted in determining the violation
point count for the purposes of this section.

However, Section 12810(j) gives the department of motor vehicle the right to assign
more points than you think.

For example, If you get a DUI and were involved in a car accident you can get accessed up
to 3 points.  2 points for the DUI and 1 point for the accident at fault.  Section 12810(j)
has been challenged in court and the higher courts have stated that this section
allows the court to access points for one incident from other subsection of this section.