DUI first offense penalties — Delaware Permit Test
DUI first offense penalties on the Delaware permit test — 3 rules, each with the reason behind it and a question on it while it is fresh.
The rules
For a first DUI offense in Delaware, the DMV takes the license for 12 months for a BAC less than .15 or for drugs, 18 months for a BAC between .15 and .19, and 24 months for a BAC of .20 or greater or a test refusal.
The drunker the driver, the more likely the crash, so a higher BAC costs a longer time off the road.
12 months for BAC less than .15 or for drugs.
For a first DUI offense in Delaware with a BAC of .20 or greater, or a refusal to submit to a chemical test, the DMV takes the license for 24 months.
A driver at .20 is so impaired that two years off the road is the price of the risk they took.
24 months for BAC .20 or greater or refusal to submit to a chemical test.
For a first DUI offense in Delaware, the court may fine the driver $500 to $1,500 and/or sentence them to imprisonment for up to 12 months.
The risk of jail is a reason to call a ride before the night ends, not after the arrest.
Sentence: Imprisonment for up to 12 months.
On the test
For a first Delaware DUI offense with a BAC under .15, how long does the DMV take the license?
12 months. The drunker the driver, the more likely the crash, so a higher BAC costs a longer time off the road. Delaware Driver Manual, p.56: “12 months for BAC less than .15 or for drugs.”
How this works
Most practice tests hand you a bank of questions and leave the manual somewhere else. This one puts them together.
You read one law and the reason behind it, then answer a question on that law while it is still fresh. Get it right and you move on; get it wrong and you have found the gap while it is cheap to fix, not on the morning of the exam.
Learning one rule at a time, and proving it immediately, is what turns a manual you skimmed into something you actually know — and it makes studying feel like getting somewhere rather than like waiting to find out.
What it costs
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Where these come from
Every rule here is checked against Delaware Driver Manual, published by the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, and against the state code itself. Last checked 2026-10-05.
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/DE.pdf (Delaware Driver Manual, July 2026, Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, retrieved 2026-09-14; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/DE.pages.txt (scripts/de-text.sh: plain pdftotext cropped to keep the section tab out, physical 47 under -layout; the fixture every citation here was cut from and verified against; sha256 pinned in SOURCES.json)
- src/assets/drivers-manuals/DE-exam.html (Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles, Driver's License Exam, https://dmv.de.gov/DriverServices/drivers_license/index.shtml?dc=dr_lic_written, read 2026-10-05; states both exam figures; sha256 pinned under examSource)
- https://dmv.de.gov/menu/forms_manuals.shtml (read 2026-10-05; links the manual)
- https://dmv.de.gov/DriverServices/faqs/index.shtml?dc=dr_faq_general (read 2026-10-05; its 30 and 24 are the exam page's figures before 2024-12, per the Internet Archive)