Arizona is known across the country as one of the toughest states on drunk driving. Penalties for a DUI conviction include mandatory jail time, heavy fines, required alcohol screening/education/treatment, automatic driver’s license suspension and mandatory installation at your expense of an ignition interlock device in your vehicle. The costs of those penalties in both personal and financial terms are heavy, but those costs are not the only ones to pay after an Arizona DUI arrest and conviction. There are hidden costs as well, including the following: Employment: a drunk driving conviction goes onto your criminal record. Employers today are more…

We have become so used to our electronic devices that we sometimes fail to notice how much screen-time we have each day and how much we have come to rely on our connected gear. Most of us value the convenience of access to almost unlimited information at any time and any place that our devices afford us. But there is mounting evidence that the information and entertainment we crave can be dangerous. A recent study shows that the infotainment systems standard on new vehicles are so distracting that their impact on driver response times is even more detrimental than drinking …

Recently announced research findings are being heralded as a big step forward in the development of an electronic marijuana breathalyzer. Chemists said in a peer-reviewed American Chemical Society journal that they have found the key chemical needed to develop a breathalyzer that will be able to detect if people are driving while high on cannabis. While chemists might not recognize that there is a significant problem here, defense attorneys certainly do: breathalyzers are flawed devices that far too often generate inaccurate readings that result in unwarranted DUI arrests. Police departments across Arizona and the nation are eager for a…