There Are Nasty Consequences That Come From DUIs
Video Transcribed: My name is Brian L. Jackson, and I’m an Oklahoma Father’s Rights attorney with Dads.Law, we protect fathers’ rights in Oklahoma, and today I’d like to talk to you a little bit about the kids and the car. It’s a time we all dread as dads when your kid gets old enough to drive. In Oklahoma, it’s about 15.5, kids are eligible to get a driver’s license.
That’s a scary time for a lot of parents because you’re looking at this child that you’ve known since they were a baby and suddenly you’re going to put them behind the wheel of a very large, heavy piece of steel that goes fast. Pretty frightening.
The next thing that’s going to go through your head is, “Well, all right. How long before they get a ticket? How long before they wrap that car around a tree?” I mean, we’ve all been there. You like to think the best about your kids, but driving is another thing.
What are some things you should be aware of as a father whose child is coming up on the age to drive? Well, the child will be liable if they break the traffic laws, obviously. They can and are ticketed and just the same as an adult driver, they break the traffic laws, they can get ticketed.
It might be a good time to have a conversation with your child, about the correct way to deal with law enforcement, which is not to argue back or be disrespectful. You do want to make sure to remind them that they do have the right to remain silent.
They should not admit things to the police. If they know they’re breaking the traffic laws, it doesn’t mean you have to be admitting it. Of course, you want to talk to them about don’t consent to any searches and don’t let the cops search your car.
Another good conversation to have with your newly minted driver is you want to warn them to be very careful who they carry around in their car. There are several reasons for this.
If you have that friend who just can’t keep their mouth shut, you get stopped by the police and they mouth off to the cops, which could end badly for all parties concerned.
Also, if you’re the driver and your passenger leaves something in your car that you’re not supposed to have, for example, like illegal drugs or paraphernalia, or a weapon, if you get searched later and that’s found, you could be found to be liable for having that in the car as the driver, yet as you’re a young driver. That’s something else to be aware of.
Also, obviously, you want to have a conversation with them about drinking and driving. This is another that it bears repeating to young people because the temptation’s there to go out and party with their friends now that they have that freedom of being able to drive.
They should know, number one, at 15, 16 years of age, you can’t drink legally. Number two, if you get behind that wheel with any BAC as someone who is under 21, you are now DUI. You committed a criminal misdemeanor and that is what’s called a predicate misdemeanor, meaning that a first offense is a misdemeanor. If you get convicted anytime thereafter, it becomes a felony.
There are a lot of very nasty consequences that come from DUIs. Typically, it’s expensive. There are quite impressive fines and costs associated with it. You have to participate in what’s called a VIP, victim’s impact panel, and most jurisdictions will also make DUI drivers submit to a drug and alcohol evaluation to ascertain whether or not they have a drinking problem. Also, there are consequences to your license.
Your license is suspended and in the case of a juvenile, the license will be suspended and they may or may not be able to get a limited license for the purposes of getting to and from work. The long and short of it is that’s a good conversation to have with your youngster.
What’s your liability? If you knowingly entrusted your vehicle to someone, your teenager who you know to be unsafe, you might be liable for what’s called negligent entrustment, which is if you unreasonably entrust your vehicle to someone who is a dangerous driver.
For example, a drunk driver, or if you know your kid is just a reckless ass driver or just not fit to drive, you could potentially be liable for that if they injure someone or damage property. For the most part, if your kids breaking the traffic laws, that’s their problem, not yours, but that is something to be aware of is negligent entrustment.
If you have questions about any of this stuff, or you need suggestions on anything else you think, from a legal standpoint, you might want to talk to your kids about, get ahold of me at dads.law, or you can give me a call, my name is Brian L. Jackson and I’m a Tulsa father’s rights attorney.
