Implied Consent

Implied consent is a legal procedure designed to legally discourage you from refusing to submit to breath, blood, or urine testing to determine your level of intoxication through your blood-alcohol content (BAC) if an officer suspects you are under the influence.

A breath test can be conducted during a traffic stop using a handheld breath-testing machine that measures a driver’s blood-alcohol concentration. Blood and/or urine tests can be performed at a hospital or detention facility.

If a driver politely declines to submit to chemical testing for BAC, these implied consent laws impose penalties. In most states a driver’s license is automatically suspended for up to one year based on that refusal to cooperate, even if he or she is ultimately not found guilty of DUI.

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The penalties for refusing to take chemical or field sobriety tests are often more severe than if the driver fails one of the requested standardized field sobriety tests. These tests are the one-leg stand, the walk-and-turn, and the horizontal gaze nystagmus test.

In addition, some states consider your refusal to submit to chemical testing as an admission of guilt and allow your refusal to be used as evidence against you in a DUI trial. Certainly you are likely to face more severe punishment by the courts if you refuse chemical testing.