New DUI Law in Tennessee

Drivers listen up! There's a new DUI law that just went into action.

The new law went into affect January 1st, and drivers in our area have mixed reactions about it.

From now on, if an officer thinks a driver has committed a violation and if they're a prior DUI offender, the officer can, without consent, give the driver a breath or blood test.

The same rules will apply if anyone is suspected of driving under the influence with people under 16 years old in the car.

"Police can pull someone over for not wearing their seatbelts and then notice the smell of alcohol or the bloodshot eyes, it's not something you have to know before you pull them over that they're drunk," says Kate Lavery from the District Attorney's office.

Before 2012, drivers could choose not to take the blood alcohol test. Kate Lavery from the District Attorney's Office says the goal of this new implied consent rule is to avoid repeat offenders.

"Before January 1st, all we could do was to remove their license which might have already been removed so this will help us deal with the problem of multiple offender DUI's," says Lavery.

"If it involves someone who has a previous conviction then it might be a good idea because if they did it once chances are they're going to do it again," says local driver Stephen Byard.

"And even if there's no one in your car, I think you should still have to take it just because so many people are killed or injured every year including themselves to alcohol or drugs," says Brittany Lawson, a local driver.

David Coughlin got a DUI two years ago. He says safety is most important, but the new law is over the line.

"I think people who have made mistakes with DUI in the past still has rights and they certainly have to pay the consequences, but it seems a little bit to far," says Coughlin.

The DA's office has not received any of these new DUI cases yet. But, they say, it takes a while before they actually get their hands on the case.