I have never been arrested for drunk driving here in Illinois because I actually don’t drink and drive. But I’ve been following some news and information about DUI because a friend of mine has been convicted before. I just wanna know, what signs are the police officers looking for if they ask a driver to pull over because of a DUI suspicion?

Joe

Aurora, IL

Usually, in Illinois, a driver is asked to pull over because of a DUI suspicion if he/she is drifting between lanes, swerving erratically while driving, making excessively wide turns, driving at extremely high or low speeds or stopping abruptly for no reason. But once the driver already stopped, the police officer is often looking for some signs which are commonly associated with drunkenness or illegal drug use. These signs are often exhibited by drivers who are drunk driving, have taken medications before or while driving and/or have taken illegal drugs.

If a driver is asked to pull over, the characteristics or signs that police officers usually look for in a driver suspected for driving under the influence are as follows:
-a face which is flushed, reddened, blank or expressionless
-jerky eye movements
-eyes which are watery or red
-slurred speech
-slow to react
-poor coordination or poor balance
-irritability
-slow recall or memory
-tiredness or fatigue
-nausea / vomiting
-excessive sweating

• Visit the library.

Head over to your local library branch and check out resources for your state DUI laws. You can assess the knowledge of your IL DUI lawyer better if you have a vague idea of what they should know. I’m not saying memorize all of the DUI laws there are, but just skimming some information and taking a few lines of notes could go a long way.

• Know what’s against you.

Your IL DUI lawyer will need to know for your case what kind of evidence there is against you. When you were pulled over, did you give off physical signs of drunkenness such as slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, and all of that? Did behaviour such as erratic driving draw the police’s attention to you to begin with? Did you say anything incriminating? Were you tested for blood alcohol concentration, and if so, what were the results?