Police officers are trained to recognize a wide range of moving violations made by vehicles since part of their job is to ticket drivers who aren’t following traffic laws. Officers are also trained to look for potential “intoxicated driving” behaviors when detecting drunk driving in New Hampshire. Any of these behaviors might draw an officer’s attention to a vehicle or prompt the officer to pull the vehicle over to see if the driver might be intoxicated.
- Weaving or drifting. Cars that weave back and forth in the lane or drift gradually from one side to the other may attract an officer’s attention, since an intoxicated driver may have difficulty keeping the vehicle traveling in a straight line.
- Crossing lane lines. Weaving, drifting or swerving across the lines that mark the lanes or sides of the road might also catch an officer’s eye, as might driving while straddling a lane line.
- Sudden, unexplained stops or jerky acceleration. Since alcohol and many drugs make it harder for a person to make quick decisions, an officer who sees a car stop for no reason in the roadway, stop at a green light or before a turn, or speed up and slow down quickly may guess that the driver is having trouble making decisions – and that intoxication may be the culprit.
These and other behaviors may prompt an officer to pull over a car in order to see whether the driver is intoxicated. However, many of these behaviors have valid explanations that don’t violate any laws. If you’ve been charged with NH DWI, feel free to get in touch with the experienced New Hampshire DWI attorneys at Tenn And Tenn, P.A. For a free and confidential telephone consultation, call us today at (888) 332-5855.