I'm Serious: Don't Refuse the Blood Test or the Breathalyzer
I've written in the past about the little-known, but very serious, provision of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code which says that while no one has to submit to a blood test or breathalyzer after a DUI arrest, anyone who refuses loses their license for a year. My advice remains the same: CONSENT TO THE BLOOD TEST. CONSENT TO THE BREATHALYZER. DON'T REFUSE. Results from those tests can still be challenged in a criminal case. However, refusing those tests means your license will be suspended in a civil matter, where the grounds for a challenge are very narrow.
And they keep getting narrower. I had recently written about the Yourick decision, but it has now been overturned by the Commonwealth Court. The matter is on appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, but that will take a year or two. Further, the Commonwealth Court just ruled that if you grab the required written warnings out of the hands of the police officer arresting you, he does not have to read you the warnings.
Again, the bottomline is that if you are put under arrest for DUI, and asked to consent to a blood test or a breathalyzer, CONSENT!
