DMV License Suspensions for a DUI in Orange County
If you were arrested for DUI in Orange County, California, the officer should have given you the choice of a breath or blood alcohol test. If you agreed to a breath alcohol test and the result was .08% or greater, the CHP or Orange County police officer probably confiscated your driver's license and issued you a pink Notice of Suspension.
This document is a formal notice that your California driver's license is suspended, and serves as well as an unrestricted 30-day temporary driver's license.
If this was your first DUI offense, your license will be suspended for four (4) months. However, reducing the suspension to one (1) month with five (5) months of work restriction is possible if you file an SR-22 proof of insurance form and enroll in a state-approved DUI school.
Submitting to a blood test will not produce an immediate result, but the ALS will still be issued. Refusing either chemical test on your first offense will result in an administrative license suspension of one (1) year with no possibility of work restriction. If this was your second offense within ten (10) years and you refused the tests, the length of suspension will be two (2) years with no possibility of work restriction.
If you contact the DMV Drivers Safety Office in Irvine, CA, within ten (10) days of being issued a Notice of Suspension, you have the right to fight the suspension at a DMV hearing. Waiting until the eleventh day will remove that privilege. The ALS or APS (Administrative Per Se Suspension) hearing is completely separate from your criminal case and must be treated as such. Although it is possible to represent yourself, your chances for winning a set aside
of the suspension are much higher with an experienced Orange County DUI attorney representing you.
If you possess an out-of-state license, the California Highway Patrol or Orange County police officer cannot seize your license as it is not the property of the State of California. Consequently, the Notice of Suspension revokes your privilege to drive only in California. Chances are, however, your license will be suspended by your home state upon notice to their DMV of your DUI arrest.
When contacting the Drivers Safety Office (DSO) to demand a hearing, it is critical that you, or preferably your DUI lawyer, write down the date and time you called and the name of the clerk with whom you spoke. If you are unable to later prove that you contacted the DSO, you may be denied a hearing. Again, it is wise to retain an Orange County DUI attorney to represent you; this service is typically included in the retainer agreement.
The DMV's Drivers Safety Office is located at 16735 Von Karman, Suite 110, in Irvine, CA, and can be reached at (949) 440-4416. See this site for information about your Orange County DUI license suspension and your driving record.
