Cost of a Cab Much More Affordable Than A DUI
You’re in Atlantic City, partying it up with friends – maybe even celebrating your good luck in the casinos. Now, it’s time to head home or back to your hotel. You’ve been drinking but decide to chance the drive. You will soon learn that the cab fare would have cost you is a lot less than a New Jersey DUI charge.
Let’s just assume an accident was not involved in this case, because that would obviously make it cost way more because of insurance increases, potential personal injuries and other criminal charges.
With a simple DUI arrest, you still may be facing jail time: up to 30 days for a first offense. This will cost you a ton of money in lost wages and may cost you your job. If you are unemployed, count on the blemish on your permanent record impacting future employment.
Second, your license will be suspended for anywhere from three months to a year. This will cause you to have to rely on public transportation, taxis or kind friends for transportation back and forth to work and other places. Of course, not being able to commute can prevent you from getting to work.
Third, there will be a host of fines and surcharges to deal with. All drunk driving offenses come with an automatic $100 surcharge for the drunk driving enforcement fund, $100 motor vehicle restoration fee, $100 violent crimes compensation fine, $100 intoxicated driver program and a $100 state and municipality fee. This is all just for first time offenders. That’s $500 bucks and you haven’t even received your sentence!
If you’re smart and want to lessen some of the damage to your license and reduce jail time, you will have to hire criminal defense attorney, which will certainly run you more than the cost of a cab. The next time you have to decide between taking a chance on drinking and driving or calling a taxi, do the smart thing and make the call.
Contact the Law Offices of John W. Tumelty for excellent criminal and DUI/DWI defense. Mr. Tumelty has been helping NJ residents navigate through drunk driving charges for more than 35 years.
