Doing Nothing Leads To Your License Is Revoked for at Least Six Months
Video Transcribed: Should I enroll in IDAP or appeal the revocation of my driver’s license in Oklahoma? I’m Tulsa DUI attorney James Wirth, and we’re talking about that scenario where you’ve been arrested for DUI or APC, actual physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated, in Oklahoma.
And you’ve got a notice of revocation of your driving privileges, and you’ve got a decision to make. Within 30 days of you getting notification of that revocation, you’ve got to decide whether you want to do, I guess, one of three things.
One, you can do nothing. If you do nothing, then once that 30 days is up, your license is revoked for at least six months, 180 days if it’s a first offense, longer if you have prior offenses. So that’s the first option.
The second option is you can enroll in the IDAP program, and that is where you say that you want to complete this program. You go ahead and put in a written request for that within 30 days. You get an interlock device installed in your car so that you blow into that breathalyzer to start your car, and then you are serving your 180 days or longer if you have priors with an interlock device so you can still drive.
You complete a drug and alcohol assessment, get that program completed, and upon completion, that revocation is not on your driving record, which means that you don’t have to pay that expensive reinstatement fee as if the revocation were on your license. So that’s option two, the IDAP program.
Option three is that you can appeal the revocation. You’d appeal by filing in your county district court within 30 days as well. That’s the same timeline for the IDAP program.
And for that route, you would want to see, does the state have sufficient evidence to show that their requirements were made in order to revoke your license based on a DUI arrest or APC arrest?
So in deciding what the best option is for you, it’s well, do you need to drive? If you don’t have any need to drive for 180 days, you can just take that revocation, although that may not be the best option.
If you’re worried about revocation on your driver’s license, the safest bet is to do the IDAP program, but that requires that you otherwise be eligible to drive, had a valid driver’s license at that time, you have a vehicle that you can install an interlock device in and utilize, and you don’t have a CDL. If you have a CDL, you’re ineligible for IDAP.
So if you’ve got a CDL, you’re probably going to want to look at filing the appeal of the revocation in the district court. So that third option, the appeal, ultimately there’s a number of things that the State has to prove in order to get that done.
If they have a strong case, then you may want to do the IDAP program in order to avoid the revocation being on your record and paying that reinstatement fee. If they have a weak case, then you may want to push that forward. If you’ve got a CDL, then that means that IDAP’s not available, so you may want to push that appeal forward.
So there’s a lot of factors that go into it. It’s going to be very specific to your circumstances and your case, the evidence that the State has, the strength and weaknesses of all of that. So you’re going to want to talk to an attorney about that.
I’ve got some other videos where I’m going to talk about what the State’s required to prove at those hearings, and you’re going to want to factor that in. But ultimately, if you’re in this situation, you’re definitely going to want a consultation privately confidentially with an attorney. To get that scheduled to somebody at my office, you can online to makelaweasy.com.
