It’s what every motorist dreads. That patrol car pulling you over has an officer who has reasonable suspicion to believe that you are driving under the influence of alcohol. What you do after you are pulled over can play a major role in deciding whether you are arrested for DUI.
One major mistake that persons seeking a DUI lawyer often make is admitting to having had “just a couple of drinks” before they began driving. Don’t assume that if the cop realizes that you only had “a couple of drinks,” he's going to let you go. Nothing of that sort will happen at all. The officer is least interested in letting you drive off. If you admit that you had a few drinks, he will still ask you to take a test, and it will later emerge in court that you admitted to driving after drinking alcohol. Saying the right things after being pulled over can help prevent a DUI arrest.
The other thing that you can do to avoid an arrest is even before you are pulled over by an officer. Discard all open containers of alcohol in your car. If these containers are found in your car, it only serves to strengthen the officer's DUI case against you. It’s harder for you to prove that you were not driving drunk if containers of alcohol are found in your car at the scene.
Drive responsibly, and avoid erratic driving. If an officer sees you changing lanes frequently, driving too slow, driving too fast or showing other signs of reckless driving, he is likely to suspect that you're drunk. You'll only draw attention to yourself with such driving behavior.
