When a police officer arrests you for impaired driving, you may argue that you’re not actually impaired. Something else is causing the officer to have that opinion. Even if they can cite potential evidence of impairment, such as driving mistakes, you don’t believe you have broken the law.
There are a few different ways in which this could happen. Let’s look at some examples so that you can know how to react if this occurs.
You’re actually just tired
In some cases, intoxication and fatigue are going to look very similar when considering how someone is driving. You may actually just be tired, but that can cause you to make driving errors, have slower reactions, lose focus while driving or even fail field sobriety tests.
You were taking medication
In some cases, a medication that you have legally taken can make you seem impaired. It is important to know when you’re not allowed to operate heavy machinery after taking medicine, as you could still face legal charges for doing so.
You were using mouthwash or recently drinking
If you have alcohol in your mouth, it’s going to give you an exceptionally high reading on a breath test. Your blood alcohol concentration (BAC) will look much higher than it actually is. As a result, if you just recently had a drink or used mouthwash before getting in the car, you could fail a breath test even though you’re not drunk.
What comes next?
If you do find yourself facing charges, be sure you know what legal defense options you have. A drunk driving conviction can be expensive and may impact your ability to work if you lose your license. This is certainly something to take seriously, especially when you’ve done nothing wrong.