According to the CDC, approximately ten thousand deaths were due to alcohol-related car crashes in 2013. While many intoxicated people drive below the speed limit (according to MADD), there are exceptions to the rule. MADD.org also says that drunk drivers tend to quickly accelerate, which means these drivers could quickly get into speeding zones.
If you were found to be going incredibly fast and you were found with alcohol on your breath, your situation is probably quite dire. Hiring a DWI/DUI lawyer is the very first thing you should do once you have sobered up. He or she can examine the details in your case to decide if there is a way to avoid some of the very harsh punishments and fines that await you. There are a few special circumstances that could work in your favor.
You Drank Before There Was a Medical Emergency
If you took a drink or two and then there was a medical emergency in your home, it might be enough for a judge to go lenient with you. For example, your wife was pregnant and due to give birth, but you both thought you had a little time yet. So, you had a couple of beers after work, and within that time your wife suddenly started having contractions and you both realized you needed to get to the hospital.
Obviously she could not drive, so you both got in the car and you sped toward the hospital. This might be one of those rare situations where drinking and speeding could not have been predicted or prevented, and your lawyer can argue that in your favor.
The Gas Pedal on Your Car Stuck
Granted, you probably should not have been in your car intoxicated in the first place, but if your vehicle malfunctions and the gas pedal gets stuck, you could easily be caught speeding and under the influence. This particular circumstance may mean that you will only have to pay your DWI fine, but you could avoid your speeding ticket since you were clearly not responsible. Your lawyer will have to prove that your gas pedal and vehicle malfunctioned, but if you had to crash the car to make it stop, then you will have plenty of records to show that that is exactly what occurred.
You Are Caught for Speeding, but Mouthwash Is to Blame for the DWI
Many mouthwashes, as well as adult cough syrups, are full of alcohol. If you had just used mouthwash and then got in your car to go to work and felt you had to speed to make it on time, the officer that pulls you over might give you both a speeding ticket and a DWI ticket. An on-the-spot breathalyzer test often causes a false reading for those that have taken cough syrup with alcohol or those that have just swished mouthwash minutes before. A blood test down at the police station should remove any doubt that this is the case, and then your lawyer may be able to remove the speeding ticket since the officer might have issued it in place of a warning if he or she assumed you were speeding under the influence.
