DUI (driving under the influence) is a very serious charge. If you are arrested for and convicted of DUI, the consequences could be devastating to you financially, personally, and professionally. Penalties for DUI include stiff fines, suspension of your driver’s license, mandatory attendance of drug and/or alcohol treatment programs, hours of community service, and even incarceration. To top it all off, your auto insurance rates will skyrocket.

So what should you do if you are pulled over on suspicion of DUI? As soon as possible, get in touch with an attorney who specializes in handling DUI cases. A DUI lawyer who knows the system can help you successfully contest the charges and avoid having a DUI conviction on your driving record.

They can do this because experienced attorneys know secrets you don’t know. For instance, field sobriety tests are not accurate. They can be influenced by neurological conditions, sleepiness, and even sheer nervousness. If you failed a field sobriety test on the day of your arrest, a competent attorney can offer a jury or a judge reasons other than intoxication why you might have appeared impaired.

Another little known fact is that booking room videos can help you if you present as sober. For instance, if the police describe you as slurring your words and making belligerent remarks, but the booking room video shows you being calm and cooperative, it gives the jury a powerful alternative look at your behavior the day you were charged. And it’s human nature for a jury to believe the evidence of their own senses over someone else’s interpretation of your behavior.

Finally, an attorney may be able to come up with expert witnesses who can poke holes in the state’s case. For instance, an expert witness can explain why breathalyzer results and even blood alcohol content samples obtained at a hospital are not always reliable.

If you live in the Annapolis, Baltimore, or Washington, DC, areas and have been cited for DUI, the law firm of HBD (Hillman, Brown and Darrow, P.A.) is ready to help you fight the charges and clear your name. For more information, visit their website.

If you live outside the DC area, you can find an attorney by looking in the Yellow Pages for law firms in your location that specialize in helping DUI clients.

Whatever you do, don’t go to court on a DUI charge without a DUI attorney. The results could be disastrous.