Nevada’s DUI laws stipulate that the illegal blood alcohol concentration limits for drivers are .02 percent for drivers who are less than the age of 21, .04 percent for holders of commercial driver’s licenses and .08 percent for all other motorists. Additionally, detection of any amount of a controlled substance in a driver’s blood is grounds for a DUI charge.
Nevada passed a state mandate in 2013 that allows for medical use of marijuana, but the state’s traffic laws have not yet been revised regarding the presence of marijuana in the blood. If you are found to have two nanograms of marijuana or five nanograms of marijuana metabolite per milliliter of your blood or 10 nanograms of marijuana or 15 nanograms of marijuana metabolite per milliliter of your urine, you will be charged with a DUI even if you are legally permitted to use marijuana for medical purposes.
Illegal Per Se
Nevada has an illegal per se law that gives officers the latitude to arrest you for DUI if your blood alcohol content is above the legal limit, even if there is no sign of impairment. Additionally, any presence of alcohol in the blood or urine is a potentially citable offense if an officer pulls you over for breaking traffic laws or driving erratically.
Implied Consent
Nevada is an implied consent state. This means that the acceptance and use of a driver’s license implies automatic consent on your part to a breath, urine or blood test if a police officer determines there is probable cause to believe that you are driving under the influence.
Refusing to take a test is a chargeable offense in itself, and the state allows officers to use reasonable force to administer a test if they deem it necessary. While it is technically permissible for Nevada officers to forcibly take blood if a driver refuses a voluntary test, evidence taken this way may be deemed inadmissible in court. If you refuse to take a BAC test, you may be charged, taken to jail and have the refusal used as evidence against you by the prosecution.
Open Container
It is illegal in Nevada to drive with an open container of alcohol anywhere in the vehicle. Some exceptions are made for passengers certain vehicles; open containers are permitted in the living areas of motor homes as well as in the passenger areas of limousines, buses and taxis.
Felony DUI
A first DUI is a misdemeanor under most circumstances. It can escalate to a felony charge if you have two previous DUI convictions within the past seven years or if the DUI resulted in serious injury or death to another person.
Any DUI committed after receiving one felony DUI conviction also automatically becomes a felony. A first felony DUI in Nevada carries the potential penalty of one to six years in jail, a fine of $2,000 to $5,000, a mandatory ignition interlock on your vehicle for one to three years after release and a license suspension of three years. Any further felony DUIs increase the penalty to a potential 15 years in jail. If injury or death was caused in any DUI, the potential jail time is increased to 20 years.