The commercial website Alochol.org has some good information about the cost of a DUI/DWI. Check out the whole article. Here are the opening paragraphs:
This article is not meant to be used as financial or legal advice for anyone who has been arrested for operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. The costs associated with this offense vary greatly from state to state and situation to situation.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that an average of 28 people die every day as a result of alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents and that about one-third of all drivers will be involved in some type of alcohol-related motor vehicle accident within their lifetime. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over 10,000 people were killed in alcohol-related traffic accidents in 2015, and more than 1 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
DUI Classifications
In the United States, any person who is 21 or older and caught driving with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher can be arrested for some type of offense that involves driving a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol. Many states may use one or more different labels/acronyms, including:
- DUI: driving under the influence
- DUIL: driving under the influence of liquor
- DWI: driving while intoxicated
- OUI: operating under the influence
- OWI: operating while intoxicated
- OUIL: operating under the influence of liquor
All of these acronyms refer to driving or operating a motor vehicle under the influence of some substance, most often alcohol. In some states, the DUI acronym refers to a lower level of impairment whereas being charged with DUIL or DWI refers to a more serious offense, although these designations are often meaningless and used interchangeably.
