Impaired driving laws — North Carolina Permit Test

DWI laws allow enforcement agencies to set up road blocks to check for impaired drivers.

A checkpoint catches drivers who have not yet done anything visible. The law allows it because impairment hides until it does not.

Allow enforcement agencies to set up road blocks to check for impaired drivers;

DWI laws prohibit drivers from consuming any alcoholic beverage, including beer, while driving, and prohibit carrying an open container of alcohol in the passenger area of the car.

An open can within reach is a drink waiting to happen. The law keeps it out of the part of the car where the driver sits.

Prohibit the transport of an open container of any alcoholic beverage, including in the passenger area of the car;

DWI laws require anyone convicted of DWI a second time to serve a jail sentence.

A first conviction is treated as a lesson. A second one shows the lesson did not take, and the sentence is no longer optional.

Require persons who are convicted of DWI for the second time to serve a jail sentence;

Anyone convicted of DWI must obtain a substance abuse assessment before driving privileges are reinstated.

The license comes back only after somebody has looked at whether drinking is a problem. The assessment is that look.

Require anyone convicted of DWI to obtain a substance abuse assessment prior to the reinstatement of driving privileges.

If you are convicted of DWI while your license is already revoked for an earlier DWI, the court may order your vehicle seized and sold.

Driving drunk on a license already lost for drunk driving leaves the court one tool: taking the car away.

If you are convicted of DWI while your license is revoked for an earlier DWI conviction, the court may order your vehicle seized and sold.

Alcoholic beverages, open or closed, may not be possessed in the passenger area of a commercial motor vehicle on any highway, street or public vehicular area.

For a truck or bus driver the rule is stricter than for a car. Even a sealed bottle up front is a violation.

Prohibit the possession of alcoholic beverages (open or closed) in the passenger area of a commercial motor vehicle while upon any highway, street or public vehicular area;

What do North Carolina’s DWI laws allow police to set up to check for impaired drivers?

Road blocks. A checkpoint catches drivers who have not yet done anything visible. The law allows it because impairment hides until it does not. North Carolina Driver Handbook, p.31: “Allow enforcement agencies to set up road blocks to check for impaired drivers;”