How Do I Get an ID if I was Charged with DUI and Lost my Driver’s License?

In Maryland, when you are stopped by police and charged with a DUI, the officer will confiscate your Maryland driver's license (out-of-state licenses cannot be confiscated by Maryland police). In return, the officer will give you a temporary paper license that allows you to continue driving for 45 days. On the 46th day after your arrest, your license is suspended and you can longer drive for several months However, during that 45 day period, depending on if you took the breath test and your results of that test, you may be able to request a MVA hearing within the first 30 days or have an ignition interlock device installed in your vehicle within the first 30 days of the arrest.

During these various periods, you are without any form of identification, and people often ask us what they are supposed to do if they are asked for ID. The easiest answer is to go to the MVA to purchase an ID card. Just because you lost your driver's license does not mean that you are not allowed to obtain an ID. For some people, you may be ineligible to request a MVA hearing for a restricted driver's license and you may elect not to install the interlock device in your vehicle. In that case, you would be facing a very lengthy suspension of either 180 days or 270 days. You would likely need a form of identification during that period, so it is recommended that you obtain an ID card from the MVA.

DUI offenses can ruin your life. If you're caught drinking and driving, you are subject to serious consequences. If you've been arrested for a DUI in Maryland, call the TOP-10 DUI lawyers at Portner & Shure today for a free consultation: (301) 854-9000, (410) 995-1515.

Maryland's New Mobile Breath Test Truck Means More DUI Arrests

      We all should be familiar with the stricter DUI penalties in place in Maryland as of October 1, 2016. Police throughout Maryland are doing whatever it takes to catch as many drunk drivers as possible to keep roads and highways safe. Over the past few years, there have been far too many fatal accidents caused by drunk drivers and police want to put an end to that. We have just made it through the busiest time of the year for DUI arrests with holiday parties and New Years.

      Maryland State Police recently unveiled a Mobile Breath Test Truck that they can set up at DUI checkpoints to make the DUI arrest process much quicker. This is bad news for drunk drivers on the roads because this means that police can process a drunk driver much faster than they used to. In a typical DUI arrest, a police officer will pull you over, smell alcohol on your breath, ask you to submit to a preliminary breath test and/or perform field sobriety tests. Based on results of these tests, the police officer will then arrest you for DUI. Next, the officer will have to transport you to the police station to administer the official breathalyzer test. The results of that test are used in your case. This process took a significant amount of time to transport an offender from the scene of the arrest to the station. With the mobile breath test truck, officers can now perform the official breathalyzer test at the scene of the arrest and continue to make additional arrests.

     
       You should always think twice about drinking and driving, but there is even more reason now to call an Uber or Lyft instead of taking the risk to drive. Police are now more likely to catch you driving drunk on the roads than before.

If you are caught drinking and driving in Maryland, call Portner & Shure for a free consultation. The consequences are significant with Maryland's new laws, so don't risk your ability to drive and hire a Top 10 DUI law firm to represent you. Call us today: (301) 854-9000; (410) 995-1515.