Iowa Drunk Driving Penalties and Laws

Consent by Law means that by driving a motor vehicle in Iowa, you agree to give the test. If you refuse to provide the test, you will be punished more severely than you would if you consented and the tests reflected that you were under the influence.

Operation was defined by the Iowa Supreme Court as the immediate, actual physical control over a motor vehicle that is in motion and/or has its engine running. If, for example, you are sitting in the driver's seat of a parked vehicle with the keys in the ignition, if the engine is not running, you are not operating the vehicle. If you start the motor, you are now operating the vehicle, even though it is parked. Riding a riding lawn mower while intoxicated will get you charged with OWI.

Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) or blood alcohol concentration is a measure of the concentration of alcohol in blood, and is represented in percentages. BAC can be measured either by blood, urine or breath testing. Having a BAC of 0.10% means that your blood contains 1 gram of alcohol per 1000.

Serious Injury means a bodily injury which creates a substantial risk of death, or which causes serious permanent disfigurement, or which causes protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily organ or major bodily member, or which causes the loss of any bodily member.

If you wish to contest the revocation of your license, this is started as an administrative proceeding. A hearing with the department of motor vehicles may be requested to contest the revocation of a driver's license for a chemical test refusal or failure. The request for a hearing must be made within 10 days following the date of receipt of the notice of revocation. Once requested, the department must hold a hearing within 45 days of the request in the county where the alleged events occurred. The hearing may be by telephone conference call. At the administrative hearing, the only issues are: whether the police had reasonable grounds to believe that the person was operating a motor vehicle under the influence, and

• whether the person refused to submit to the test or tests, or
• whether a test was administered and the results indicated a prohibited BAC level, or
• whether a test was administered and the test results indicated the presence of alcohol, a controlled substance or other drug, or a combination of alcohol and another drug.

After the hearing, the DMV will order the revocation to be rescinded (voided) or sustained (confirmed as valid). If the revocation is sustained, you may file a request for review within 10 days. The director or the director's designee shall review the decision within thirty days and will either rescind or sustain the revocation or order a new hearing. If the director orders a new hearing, it must take place within 20 of the director's order. If you can show that new material evidence exists and there were valid reasons the evidence was not presented at the first hearing, the department will stay the revocation until a new hearing can be held. Your license revocation will be rescinded if the DMV fails to comply with the time limitations under which a hearing must be held. Furthermore, if the trial court finds in your case that the peace officer did not have reasonable grounds to believe that an OWI violation occurred to support a request for or to administer a chemical test or that the chemical test was otherwise inadmissible or invalid, the license revocation will be rescinded and your full driving privileges will be reinstated.