Adult drink driving penalties — Texas Permit Test

A person who refuses to give a blood or breath specimen has the license suspended for 180 days, or up to 730 days for subsequent offenses.

Refusal is not a way out for an adult either. The suspension runs whatever the criminal case does.

A person who refuses to give a blood or breath specimen for analysis will have their driver license suspended for 180 days or up to 730 days for subsequent offenses

An adult who gives a specimen showing a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or greater may have the license suspended for 90 days, or up to 365 days for subsequent offenses.

Failing the test costs less than refusing it on a first offense. That is the arithmetic the law sets up on purpose.

their driver license may be suspended for 90 days or up to 365 days for subsequent offenses

A first adult conviction for driving while intoxicated carries a fine of up to $2,000 and 72 hours to 180 days in jail.

Jail starts at the first offense, not the second. Seventy-two hours is the floor, not the maximum.

72 hours to 180 days in jail

A second adult conviction for driving while intoxicated carries a fine of up to $4,000 and 30 days to 1 year in jail.

The fine doubles and the minimum jail term goes from days to a month. The gap between first and second is deliberate.

Up to $4,000 30 days to 1 year in jail

A third or later adult conviction for driving while intoxicated carries a fine of up to $10,000 and 2 to 10 years in prison.

By the third the offense is a felony and the sentence is in years. There is no version of this that stays a traffic matter.

2 to 10 years in TDCJ

Driving while intoxicated with a passenger under 15 carries a fine of up to $10,000 and 180 days to 2 years in state jail.

The child in the car moves the offense up several steps at once. It is priced like a third conviction.

180 days to 2 years in state jail

Intoxication manslaughter carries a fine of up to $10,000 and 2 to 20 years in prison.

This is the top of the chapter. Everything else in it exists to keep drivers away from this line.

2 to 20 years in TDCJ

A first driving while intoxicated conviction by a minor suspends the license for 365 days, or for 90 days with a judge's order to install an ignition interlock device.

The interlock cuts the suspension to a quarter of its length. That is the trade the court is offering.

suspension of the driver license (or privilege denied if not licensed) for 365 days, or for 90 days with a judge’s order to install an ignition interlock device

Possession of an open container of an alcoholic beverage increases the minimum confinement for a first driving while intoxicated offense to six days.

Three days becomes six because of a bottle in the car. It is the one add-on in the table.

Possession of an open container of an alcoholic beverage increases the minimum confinement to six days.

How long is an adult's Texas license suspended for a first refusal to give a specimen?

For 180 days. Refusal is not a way out for an adult either. The suspension runs whatever the criminal case does. Texas Driver Handbook, p.58: “A person who refuses to give a blood or breath specimen for analysis will have their driver license suspended for 180 days or up to 730 days for subsequent offenses”