MDDP Category Archives — Illinois DUI Lawyer Blawg Published by Springfield, Illinois DUI/DWI Attorney

Published on: May 31, 2013

Illinois Secretary of State adopts rules requiring integration of cameras in Interlock devices

Under Illinois DUI driver’s licensing law, there are two types of situations in which the installation of an Ignition Interlock Device (IID) may come into play. Both scenarios involve the same device, namely, a machine that is wired into the ignition of your vehicle, which will not start until you blow into a tube and register a blood alcohol level in an acceptable range.

Both circumstances in which the IID is involved have a name. One is the Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) and the other is the Breath Alcohol Ignition Interlock Device (BAIID).

A driver’s license suspension is a temporary “pause” in the validity of your driver’s license. Once the pause period ends, your right to drive will be restored unless it is otherwise invalid.

A revocation invalidates your license. You must have an administrative hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State and prove you are entitled to restoration of your privilege to drive before. 625 ILCS 5/6-205

During a DUI arrest, the police will ask you to submit to a chemical test (blood or breath) to determine your blood alcohol content (BAC). A refusal to submit to the chemical test, or taking the chemical test and registering at least .08, results in a driver’s license suspension. This suspension will be between six months and three years depending upon whether you blow and upon whether you have had a DUI in the prior five years. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1

If you have had a DUI arrest in the prior five years, you may not obtain a permit to drive. If you have not had a DUI in the previous five years, you are eligible for an MDDP. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1 Each time you start the vehicle, and while you are driving, you must blow into a tube.

If you blow too high, the car will not start. In addition, high readings are recorded and electronically sent to the Secretary of State BAIID division.

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Published on: March 15, 2013

Next up: cameras in cars of Illinois DUI offenders.

By Theodore Harvatin

As concerns Illinois DUI offenses, the Secretary of State (“SOS”) serves two functions, one as record keeper and the other as determining whether someone who has been arrested for DUI can be a safe and responsible driver following an Illinois driver’s license suspension or revocation. 625 ILCS 5/2-118

A DUI arrest can result in a suspension or a revocation, or both, or neither. A suspension constitutes a “pause” in your right to drive for a period of time. Once that period of time ends, your right to drive is restored, provided there is not something else blocking that right.

In DUI cases, a revocation may create that roadblock. A revocation terminates your driver’s license and your right to drive in Illinois.

A revocation can only be removed by applying to the Secretary of State and demonstrating that, despite your DUI, you can now be considered safe to drive. The right to request that restoration only comes after a waiting period of one year, five years or ten years.

The waiting period is one year for a first conviction, five years for a second conviction that comes less than twenty years after a first conviction and ten years for a third conviction. Court supervision is not a conviction.

A driver’s license suspension happens when you are arrested for DUI and are asked to take a test and either register a blood alcohol level of at least .08 or refuse to test. The suspension period for a refusal is longer than it is for testing.

And the suspension is always longer if you have had a DUI arrest in the past five years, regardless of whether you test over .08 or refuse. People with a DUI in the previous five years are known a non-first offenders.

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Published on: February 1, 2013

Under what DUI situations is the Ignition Interlock Device (IID) required in Illinois?

By Theodore Harvatin

You are arrested for an Illinois DUI (Driving Under the Influence) You have posted bond, been released from jail and have been assigned a court date. You have in your hand a bunch of papers and are wondering, what now and what does this all mean?

You will probably receive a confusing array of uninformed advice in answer to this uncertainty. In order to understand what is going on, it is important for you to realize some fundamental things.

One critical item to keep in mind is the distinction between a driver’s license suspension and a revocation. A suspension is a temporary withdrawal of your right to drive in the state of Illinois. 625 ILCS 5/1-204 When the temporary period ends, your right to drive requires nothing more than paying a fee to the Illinois Secretary of State, provided that your driving privileges are otherwise valid.

In connection with a DUI offense, one of the things that can prevent your driver’s license from being otherwise valid is a driver’s license revocation. 625 ILCS 5/1-176 A revocation effectively terminates your current license, rather than simply putting it on hold as does a suspension. In order to be entitled to drive again, you must have a driver’s license hearing with the Illinois Secretary of State.

A driver’s license revocation occurs after a DUI conviction. DUI is a criminal charge which requires involvement of the courts and a determination that the state has enough evidence to find you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Your right to apply for a new license is denied during the period of your revocation. That period will be one year for a first conviction, five years upon a second conviction and ten years with a third conviction. If any arrest that results in a fourth or later conviction occurs after January 1, 1999, you can never apply for a license. 625 ILCS 5/6-208

In many circumstances, even though you cannot apply for a full license, the Secretary of State is authorized to grant you a hearing to request a restricted driving permit (RDP) that allows you to drive for limited purposes (employment, medical for you or family members, support group meetings, court ordered community service, day care and school for you and family members). However, upon a second or more conviction, you must wait one year before you may apply for an RDP.

There is also a waiting period of one year if you are under 21 at the time you are arrested for a DUI for which you are later convicted. Another situation that will block you from receiving an RDP hearing is if at this is your second DUI offense in the past five years.

Your right to request an RDP will be put on hold for one year if you took a chemical test at the time of your second arrest and three years if you did not take a test. These time periods, by the way, apply even if the DUI charge is dropped, or in other words, even if you are not convicted of the DUI.

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Published on: August 24, 2012

Federal officials continue to push states for tougher DUI laws

By Theodore Harvatin

Historically, basic matters of public safety on non-federal highways have been handled by the states. Beginning in the early 1980’s, Congress started intruding on this traditional area of state law with reference to Illinois DUI laws (Driving Under the Influence).

Rather than use persuasion, Congress employed a hammer, namely, money. States that did not submit to the will of the Federal Government risked losing federal funds allocated to the states.

Due to this coercion, all 50 states now have: a drinking age of 21 (235 ILCS 5/6-16), a blood alcohol content of .08 (625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1) and driver’s license suspensions for either taking a test and registering above the legal limit or for refusing to take a test.

Given the recent ruling United States Supreme Court decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (“Obamacare”), exactly how far the Federal Government may go in regulating areas traditionally reserved to the states under the Commerce Clause is not completely clear. However, that will not stop Congress and the President, particularly one who, as it the case with the current occupant, favors a strong federal presence in our lives, from trying.

In vogue at the present time, touted as “silver bullets” to stop drunk driving are Interlock Ignition Devices, which in Illinois go under the names of Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) and Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Devices (BAIID). A machine is incorporated into your vehicle’s ignition. The vehicle will not start unless you blow into a mouthpiece that allegedly measures blood alcohol readings.

BAIID and MDDP revolve around the idea of requiring a driver to rent a machine from someone (the manufacturer of the machine, or as the people who support these intrusions like to call them, the much less threatening-sounding “device”). Then after renting this “device”, the driver is forced to pay someone certified by the state (the installer) to place the “device” in the driver’s vehicle.

The installer periodically downloads readings from the “device” (for a fee the driver pays) and sends those results to the Illinois Secretary of State. For a fee the driver pays the Secretary of State, his office records the results and monitors the driver’s compliance with the Secretary of State’s rules. 92 Illinois Administrative Code (IAC) §1001.444.

Clearly, money is a factor in the push for these “devices’. And if the providers of these “devices” throw enough of it around Washington DC, there’s bound to be some proposals to increase the use of Interlock Ignition Devices (IID) throughout the country.

The state of Virginia, next door to DC, recently began requiring first offenders to install an IID. Both neighboring Maryland and the District of Columbia itself are now in the bulls eye of the National Traffic Safety Administration.

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Published on: September 30, 2011

Confiscation and sale of motor vehicle due to MDDP violations

By Theodore Harvatin

The law in the state of Illinois contains specific provisions for what happens to you if you are arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI). You will face various criminal consequences, such as fine and jail, as provided in 625 ILCS 5/11-501 et. seq. Furthermore, there will be various driver’s license consequences.

If you are convicted of the DUI, your driver’s license will be revoked for 1, 5 or 10 years, depending upon how many previous DUI convictions you have on your record. And if this represents your fourth or more conviction after January 1, 1999, your driver’s license and driving privileges in Illinois will be subject to a lifetime revocation 625 ILCS 5/6-208. In order to be allowed to drive again following an Illinois driver’s license revocation, you must have a hearing through the Illinois Secretary of State.

The other aspect of your DUI arrest involves an automatic suspension of your driver’s license, which will typically take effect on the 46th day following your DUI arrest. This is known as a “statutory summary suspension” or SSS. An SSS goes away without a hearing after the suspension period ends.

If you agree to submit to testing to determine your blood alcohol level and register .08 or higher, your driver’s license will be suspended for 6 months if you have not had a DUI arrest in the previous 5 years (known as a “first offender”) The first offender suspension will be 1 year if you decide not to submit to testing. 625 ILCS 5.6-208.1
Someone who has had a DUI arrest in the previous 5 years is a non first offender. A non first offender who registers .08 or higher will be suspended for 1 year, while one who refuses faces a 3 year suspension. A non first offender is not entitled to drive for any reason during the entire suspension period. 625 ILCS 5/6-208.1 (g)

If you are first offender, you cannot drive at all during the first 30 days of a statutory summary suspension. Thereafter, you are entitled to a Monitoring Device Driving Permit (MDDP) unless:

1. Your driver’s license is otherwise invalid (revoked, suspended, expired).
2. You were charged with a DUI that resulted in death or great bodily harm.
3. You have a previous conviction for reckless homicide.
4. You are less than 18 years of age. 625 ILCS 5/6-206.1(a)(1)- (a)(4)

In order to receive an MDDP, you must agree to install a Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Device (BAIID) in all motor vehicles that you operate during the SSS period. BAIID is a machine that ties into your vehicle’s ignition system and detects the alcohol content of your breath when you blow into a tube, a step that is necessary for your vehicle to start.

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