One assumption that people often make about driving after they’ve been drinking is that it is safe to drive the following morning. Once they’ve gone to sleep for the night, they assume they have moved beyond the stage where they would get a DWI, so they don’t even consider their blood alcohol concentration when they get in the car.
Does this assumption always work? If you’ve slept through the night, does that guarantee that you’re sober enough to drive without risking DWI charges?
You can get a DWI the day after drinking
The main thing to note here is that you certainly can get a DWI the day following, and this is something that often happens to people who are simply trying to commute to work. Say that you went out drinking with friends on a Thursday evening and you still have another shift at work on Friday morning. You could get pulled over driving there at 7:00 a.m. the next day, and you may be surprised to learn that your blood alcohol concentration is still over the legal limit.
What you have to keep in mind is that BAC only drops by about 0.015% per hour. So whether or not you slept long enough to get your blood alcohol content back down below the legal limit simply depends on how high it was before and how long you were actually asleep. Those who stay out late and have an early shift at work may only catch a few hours of sleep before going in, and that may simply not be enough for their blood alcohol content to drop to a level that puts them under the guidance of the law.
If you do get a DWI charge, you must know about all of your criminal defense options. Experienced legal guidance is essential.