• 02
  • February
    2012

State police say they arrested a truck driver for drunk driving on the New York State Thruway last weekend.

The 46-year-old trucker charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated faces possible loss of his commercial driver's license if he's convicted on the charge. He was arrested about 80 miles due north of Newburgh in Bethlehem, just south of Albany.

Police said they received a report of a truck being driven erratically, headed north on Interstate 87. When they pulled the truck carrying food products over, they tested the driver for blood alcohol content.

According to police, his BAC was 0.35 percent. For drivers of commercial vehicles, the legal threshold is 0.04 percent. That means that if the test was accurate, this driver's BAC was more than eight times the legal limit for commercial drivers.

The legal threshold for drivers of passenger vehicles is 0.08 percent.

The state of New York has strict DWI laws; even stricter for CDL holders than for the rest of us.

A CDL holder can lose their livelihood with a conviction for DWI. A first-time offender faces a minimum one-year loss of their CDL after a conviction.

A second conviction could mean a lifelong loss of their CDL.

CDL holders invariably face  harsher consequences than passenger vehicle license holders. If a commercial driver refuses a chemical test, they face a minimum 18-month revocation as opposed to a one-year revocation for passenger vehicle license holders.

Clearly, any truck driver facing the possibility of losing their license, and their job, wants to fight for both with an experienced, effective attorney at their side.

Source: eveningtribune.com: "New York cops: NJ trucker 4 times over alcohol limit," Jan. 30, 2012