If you are one of the many people in Ohio who holds a commercial driver’s license, you likely know that you are held to a higher standard in many ways than a driver who holds a standard driver’s license. You may be at risk of enduring harsher penalties for the same offense and these penalties could impede your ability to earn a living and keep working in your driving job. Understanding how any allegation of impaired driving may impact you is very important.
According to the State of Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles, you do not even need to be convicted of a drunk driving offense to experience penalties. If you refuse to take a test requested by an officer, you might lose the right to drive commercially for an entire year. This penalty may become a lifetime suspension if it is your second or subsequent offense. Similarly, your commercial driver’s license may be suspended if any alcohol is detected in a test even if you are not ultimately convicted.
Trace amounts of alcohol may find you unable to drive for 24 hours but any amounts greater than 0.04% for a breath test could result in a 12-month suspension or disqualification. As with a test refusal, such a result for a second or subsequent time may end up costing you your CDL for life.
If you would like to learn more about how you might best protect your job and right to keep working as a driver after a traffic stop, please feel free to visit the commercial driving license impaired operation offense page of our Ohio criminal and traffic ticket defense website.
