When your blood is taken for testing after a DUI arrest, it’s properly labeled and taken care of, right?  That’s what’s supposed to happen with your blood sample.  It’s labeled with your name by lab professionals and the chain of custody is supposed to keep samples from getting mixed up before, during, and after testing.  With these procedures in place, test samples should never get mixed up.  That sounds good in theory, but the truth is that samples do get mixed up and it results in innocent people being prosecuted for and convicted of driving under the influence.  There are many things that can go wrong with that small vial of blood drawn from someone who has been arrested for driving under the influence.  When you’re at the lab for testing, one of the first mistakes that can be made is mislabeling of the sample.  If a lab professional grabs the wrong label, your name can get attached to the sample of someone who actually did exceed the legal blood alcohol content limit.  Another mistake that can occur during the testing process is that your sample can be assigned the wrong result.  This happens because it is much more cost-effective to test all of the samples in batches using a mechanical process.  The machine is loaded with a batch of samples, they are tested, and results are assigned.  If the machine somehow gets off-kilter, your sample could be assigned an incorrect result and you could be charged with driving under the influence.  Despite the many problems with the reliability of blood testing after DUI arrests, no major changes have been made in the testing process and blood tests continue to be used as integral pieces of evidence in DUI cases.  If you believe a lab error was responsible for your failing blood test result, contact a San Bernardino DUI lawyer to find out your options.

In the United States, laws are made based on the need for these laws and how effective they will be in improving safety or reducing crime, right?  Not with driving under the influence and other alcohol-related laws.  With the influence of MADD and politicians who are trying to win elections, the states are often strong-armed into enacting laws that are arbitrary or aren’t needed to protect citizens.  Open container laws are just one example of laws that don’t really do any good in the fight against drunk drivers.  Open container laws mean that it is illegal for drivers to have an open container of alcohol anywhere in a vehicle where it can be reached while operating the vehicle.  An open container can be anything included a bottle flask, or other container used to hold alcohol.  The driver doesn’t even have to be holding the container; it can be anywhere in the car that the driver can possibly reach.  Do you think a driver could reach the back dashboard while driving?  Probably not, but open container laws don’t take that common sense into consideration.  Many states enacted open container laws simply because the federal government mandated that these laws be put into effect or else federal funding for maintaining roadways in each state would be jeopardized.  The same thing happened with each state enacting laws that allow the driver’s license agency to automatically suspend the license of anyone arrested for DUI.  Notice that the license of anyone arrested for DUI has their license confiscated; the licensing agency doesn’t even wait to see if each person is convicted or exonerated of the charges.  States enacted these laws so that they did not lose needed federal funding for maintaining and repairing roadways.  When the states start risking the loss of needed funding, it’s only natural that legislators will introduce stricter DUI laws to appease politicians and members of MADD.  If you’ve been charged with DUI in California, contact a San Diego DUI lawyer as soon as possible so you can get a qualified legal professional to help you with your case.