BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The cost of a DUI conviction can reach up to $10,000, making rideshare services a bargain compared to the financial and legal consequences of driving under the influence.
With New Year's Eve celebrations underway, law enforcement officials and legal experts are reminding drivers about the steep price of impaired driving beyond just the immediate safety risks.
Officer Jorge Toro, Public Information Officer for the Bakersfield Region, spent eight years working late-night shifts stopping suspected impaired drivers. He said the average person arrested on suspicion of DUI will spend about 12 hours in jail.
"A lot of the times they'll say, oh, just one beer or one joint, whatever it is. And at that point, we will kindly ask them to step out and ask them a series of pre-filled sobriety test questions, and then go through explaining and demonstrating field sobriety tests," Toro said.
The consequences become more severe if an accident occurs.
"Those are straight DUIs, so you getting stopped and simply getting pulled over. So that means you didn't crash and hurt your passenger or anybody else, because, as you know, if you hurt your passenger or anybody else, if they have any kind of visible injury, then you just upgraded that misdemeanor DUI to a felony," Toro said.
Criminal defense attorney David Faulkner outlined the financial burden that follows a DUI arrest. Court fines alone exceed $1,900, he said.
"You're going to pay a fine, and that's going to be over $1,900. You're going to have to do a DUI school," Faulkner said.
According to Faulkner, the total cost isn't just direct costs like court fines, DUI school, and attorney fees, but indirect costs like losing a job. A first-time DUI conviction can cost between $5,000 and $10,000.
Faulkner emphasized that alternative transportation is significantly more affordable and less complicated than dealing with a DUI conviction.
"Everything considered, the direct expenses, the indirect expenses, the job loss, the social stigmatization of DUIs, all of that factoring in — just use an Uber, get a Lyft, get a designated driver, do something other than drive while you're impaired," Faulkner said.
For those celebrating tonight, a $15 rideshare trip and the minor inconvenience of retrieving a vehicle the next morning is minimal compared to the devastating financial and legal consequences of a DUI conviction or accident.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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