New DUI law makes it harder for cops to suspend your driver’s license – simple test is no longer enough
A NEW DUI law has made it harder for cops to suspend your driver’s license, with the standard test no longer a good enough reason.
A recent court decision means that a “high bar” will be imposed on law enforcement to get permission to issue driving bans.
GettyA new Arizona DUI law has made it harder to ban drivers for marijuana-related DUIs[/caption]
The Arizona Court of Appeals has established a new standard to charge motorists with marijuana-related DUIs.
The state legalized the drug for recreational use in 2020 but it has remained illegal to drive while experiencing its effects.
Previously, detecting THC (the psychoactive component of marijuana) in a driver’s bloodstream was enough to charge them.
But critics of the old law claimed that traces of THC can remain visible in drug screening long after legal use.
As such, they argued that the presence of THC was not sufficient to prove that a legal user was intoxicated while driving.
What is 'Road Rage'?
While road rage is often defined by an aggressive reaction to another driver's actions, it could be dangerous.
The NHTSA says road rage is different from aggressive driving, as it comes down to intention. The agency says many state laws include intent to harm as part of a road rage or reckless driving offense.
“Although some States have passed laws criminalizing aggressive driving, it should not be confused with road rage, which is an intentional assault by a driver or passenger with a motor vehicle or a weapon that occurs on the roadway or is precipitated by an incident on the roadway,” the agency writes.
“Aggressive drivers, as distinct from aggressive driving, often can be identified as those who violate traffic laws repeatedly or whose violations lead to crashes producing serious injury or death.”
Actions that define road rage in many states are behaviors like trying to run another driver off the roadway, using their vehicle to cause another driver to crash, speeding, weaving in and out of traffic lanes, or threatening and/or using a dangerous weapon.
Source: NHTSA
Julie Gunnigle, Legal Director for Arizona NORML, told KGUN 9 News: “[Drivers] can test positive for those metabolites days or weeks, and in some cases even months after consumption.
“What this case stands for is the idea that just because someone tests positive for THC metabolites in their system, it does not automatically mean their driving privileges get suspended.
“It can’t be measured in the same way [as alcohol].”
The court ruled that law enforcement officers must now be able to prove that a driver was actually impaired by marijuana in order to impose a license suspension.
This could be done by providing evidence of dangerous driving or poor judgment but cannot be based on the presence of THC alone.
However, Deputy Anthony Pool of the Pima County Sheriff’s DUI unit claimed that the decision would not change much from a police perspective.
He said: “Nothing has changed in our objective here with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.
“We do a really, really good job of administering field sobriety testing and also documenting that as well, and making sure that we’re distinguishing between consumption versus impairment.”
He added that the department was focussed on keeping impaired drivers off the roads and prevent harm to other road users, regardless of the cause of the impairment.
It comes after a 10-year-old boy was arrested after being filmed joyriding a stolen car through a playground.
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