Tag Archives: driving under the influence of an intoxicant

As we all know, or should know, our laws are born with legislation sponsored by our Tennessee State Senators and Representatives. Accordingly, it is an incumbent upon all of us to keep track of what laws are being introduced, or need to be introduced, so that we can provide feedback to our legislators. In this article, I want to provide you with information relating to two Senate bills relating to Driving Under the Influence (DUI) laws that are pending before ... Read More »

As of July 1, 2022, when a judge determines the amount and conditions of bail to be imposed upon a defendant who has been charged with driving under the influence of an intoxicant (DUI), or a related offense, the court shall require the defendant to operate only a motor vehicle equipped with a functioning ignition interlock device if: (i) The offense resulted in a collision involving property damage; (ii) A minor was present in the vehicle at the time of ... Read More »

2022 legislation proposed by Tennessee Senator White and Tennessee Representative Ogles would amend current law so that a prior conviction for the offense of boating under the influence must be treated the same as a prior conviction for driving under the influence of an intoxicant for purposes of determining punishment for a violation of driving under the influence of an intoxicant.  Likewise a conviction for driving under the influence of an intoxicant (or related offenses) must be treated the same ... Read More »

On March 15, 2021, Tennessee Senate Bill 0246 was unanimously passed.  If the accompanying House Bill passes as well, as it appears it will, the penalties for Boating Under the Influence of an intoxicant (BUI) will be more closely aligned with the Tennessee penalties for Driving Under the Influence of an intoxicant (DUI). Furthermore, this new law clarifies that the offenses of Vehicular Assault, Aggravated Vehicular Assault, Vehicular Homicide, and Aggravated Vehicular Homicide may be committed by a person boating ... Read More »

According to WATE-TV in Knoxville, the Knoxville, TN FBI field office is reporting a “new twist on an old scam.”  Scammers are scaring victims by telling them their child was arrested for Driving Under the Influence of an Intoxicant (DUI)  after a serious crash. The scammers pose as the child and attorney to demand bail in cash due to COVID-19.  The FBI recommends attempting to reach their child to confirm their safety. There are a lot of things that don’t ... Read More »

If you have, or if you are planning on getting, a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL), you need to know a little bit about how and why prosecutors take such a hard stance on traffic and other related violations when they involve drivers with a CDL. One way to get a good overview is to review, “Commercial Drivers Licenses: A Prosecutor’s Guide to the Basics of Commercial Motor Vehicle Licensing and Violations (Second Edition).” This guide was funded, at least in ... Read More »

Knoxville recently added its third self-service kiosk designed for convenient driver’s license renewal. This kiosk, like the forty others in Tennessee, functions using biometric facial recognition technology to recognize the driver. As of 2013, agencies in thirty-seven states, including the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, were using a database of photos for facial recognition: amounting to an estimated 120 million Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) photos kept in databases around the nation. Be aware, though that the implications ... Read More »