Colorado has similar drinking and driving laws as the rest of the country when it comes to DUI. For a DUI charge, a driver has to have over a .08 BAC. However, there is a lesser charge called a DWAI in Greeley Colorado, which brings less of a penalty while drinking and driving. For a DWAI in Greeley Colorado, also known as driving while ability impaired, a driver has to have a BAC between .05 and .08.
The main difference between DUI and DWAI in Greeley, CO, besides the BAC of the driver is the toughness of the penalty someone a guilty party will face. For a DUI, a guilty party faces up to a year in jail, a $1000 fine and a 9-month suspension of their driver’s license for a first conviction. For a DWAI, the jail time can be as much as 180 days, there could be a $500 fine and no driver’s license suspension. DWAI is considered a misdemeanor crime that will remain on your criminal record.
For later convictions, the penalties can be much heavier, even with a DWAI. For a second and third offense, in addition to additional jail time and fines as a first offense, someone found guilty of a DWAI may have to put an ignition interlock device in their car, something that brings extra costs to the guilty party outside of any fines that they have to pay. They may also face license suspension.
Colorado does not have what is called a “lookback period”, meaning that the courts can go back into someone’s entire driving record to determine how many prior offenses a driver has. The result is if a driver had a drinking and driving-related conviction years prior, it would still be used to determine prior offenses.