1. First Offense OWI, UBAL, OWVI or OUID penalties include the following:

   For OWI, UBAL, or OUID:

   1. Up to 93 days in jail
   2. 6 months Suspended License: 1st 30 days no driving at all, remaining 5 months Restricted Driving allowed.
   3. Up to $500 in fines, plus costs
   4. Up to 180 hours of Community Service
   5. 6 Points on your Driving Record
   6. $1000 Driver Responsibility Fee for 2 years
      
      

   For OWVI (Impaired Driving):

   1. Up to 93 days in jail
   2. 90 days Restricted Driving (180 days if Impaired by Drugs)
   3. Up to $300 in fines, plus costs
   4. Up to 360 hours of Community Service
   5. 4 Points on your Driving Record
   6. $500 Driver Responsibility Fee for 2 years
   
   

2. Second Offense OWI, UBAL, or OUID

   1. 5 days to 1 year in jail, or
   2. 1 year Revoked License (no driving at all, no license available)
   3. $200 to $1000 fine, plus costs
   4. 30 to 90 days Community Service
   5. License Plate Confiscation
   6. Vehicle Immobilization from 90 to 189 days, unless vehicle is forfeited
   7. Possible Vehicle Forfeiture
   8. 6 Points on your Driving Record
   9. $1000 Driver Responsibility Fee for 2 years
      
      

   For OWVI (Impaired Driving - 2nd Offense), all of the above, except:

   1. 4 Points (not 6) on your Driving Record
   2. $500 (not $1000) Driver Responsibility Fee for 2 years.
   
   

3. Third Offense OWI, UBAL, or OUID

   1. 1 to 5 years in the State Prison, or
   2. 30 days to 1 year in the County Jail followed by Probation\
   3. 5 years Revoked License (no driving at all, no license available)
   4. $500 to $5000 fine, plus costs
   5. 60 to 180 days Community Service
   6. License Plate Confiscation
   7. Vehicle Immobilization 1 to 3 years unless vehicle is forfeited
   8. Possible Vehicle Forfeiture
   9. Registration Denial
   10. 6 Points on your Driving Record
   11. $1000 Driver Responsibility for 2 years
       
       

   For OWVI (Impaired Driving - 3rd Offense) all of the above, except:

   1. 4 Points (not 6) on your Driving Record
   2. $500 (not $1000) Driver Responsibility Fee for 2 years

These are really the three most common kinds of Drunk Driving cases. The Michigan Secretary of State has a very good breakdown of the various alcohol and drug-related driving penalties which can be found here. Cases involving Drunk Driving Causing Serious Injury or Death, are, fortunately, not very common. Of course there are several other alcohol-related traffic offenses, including Zero Tolerance (person under 21 with a breath test result of between .02 and .07) and Open Intoxicants in a Motor Vehicle, but the bulk of what I and pretty much every other Drunk Driving lawyer sees are the above three charges, listed in order.

The Michigan Secretary of State has also put together a really good two-page flowchart detailing both what can, and what must result for each of these and a number of other relatively common offenses. I have provided that link here.

Okay, so that's the scary part, especially the "up to" so many days in jail. The fact is that the vast majority of people who get a first offense Drunk Driving charge, hire a lawyer and get the charge reduced from the original OWI 1st offense to what is called Impaired Driving. This reduced offense, first off, allows a person to keep their Driver's License. With an Impaired Driving, a person will have their license restricted for 90 days, allowing them to drive to, from and during the course of employment, for any necessary medical treatment, and anything else the court orders. Beyond that, the fines are somewhat lower, topping out at $300 (instead of $500) plus costs, and only 4 (as opposed to 6) points will be added to the driving record. The same "up to" 93 days in jail still applies, but in almost every local court, avoiding any jail time is pretty much a sure thing.

Second offenses are much more of a problem. OWI 2nd offense cases carry a potential of up to 1 year in jail, although very few people ever get the whole year. To be blunt, if you have been charged with a second offense, you're looking right down the barrel of a real jail sentence, even if it's nothing close to a year. In some courts, especially a few very tough ones in Oakland County, that's pretty much a given, and your efforts, short of getting the case dismissed outright, will be concentrated on minimizing, as opposed to avoiding, any jail time. Remember at the outset of this site, I mentioned that I won't simply tell someone what they want to hear, and no matter how unpleasant the truth may be. The good news is that, unless you are one of the unfortunate people facing such a charge in one of those very tough Courts, then with the right attitude and some real effort on your part, you can be helped and guided to avoid jail.

Third offenses, I think it goes without saying, are nightmares. A person convicted of a third offense faces a mandatory minimum of 30 days in jail. If you are facing one of these felony charges, you probably have a sense already of how things are. Now, it's time to get help, get direction and get this thing behind you. The surprise here is that in some third offense cases, it is possible to get the charge reduced to a misdemeanor, and even avoid jail. What's important is that you get ready to do some serious work on your own behalf, while your lawyer does the same thing for you.

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