What It Means Being Charged With Opening a Container While Driving

The Penal Code clearly states that no person is allowed to have any container, can or bottle with alcoholic beverages while he or she is driving. It is illegal if the container is open, partially or entirely, if it is half empty or if there are any other signs that the driver was consuming alcoholic beverages while operating the vehicle. In addition, it is also important that the container must not be in a place that is easy to reach for the driver.

With that said, there are certain exceptions in the Penal Code when it comes to open containers. It is perfectly legal for a person, who is benefiting from riding in a vehicle that is transporting him or her for compensation, to have open containers. For instance, limos, buses and taxi cabs all fall under this particular exception. However, drinking on a bus with an open container may lead to potential charges – it may be reason enough to charge a person for disturbing the peace or being intoxicated while in public.

There are situation when an open container is found in a parked car. There is room for an argument here – there is a chance that a person was drinking in public (which is an offense) and placed the container into the car afterwards or that the person was driving with an open container all the way. In many cases, a person is going to be charged with a misdemeanor. However, depending on the circumstances, legal penalties may worsen and turn into something severe. For instance, an individual can even be charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and it will result in losing driving privileges, paying expensive fines, performing community service or even spending time in county jail.

If you or your loved ones were charged with driving with an open container, there is room for different options here, so make sure you use it to your advantage. Still, doing so on your own will be pretty much impossible – you do not have enough knowledge of laws and legal regulations, you do not know how to approach the judge and the prosecution, so it is best to get in touch with a qualified as well as genuinely experienced criminal defense attorney in Los Angeles at the earliest opportunity. That way you will make sure that a professional legal representative is going to come up with a solid defense strategy and will do his or her best to help you. It is imperative to get the case dismissed or to minimize the sentence at the very least and only a good Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer will know how to do it properly.

Los Angeles Criminal Specialists, https://www.losangeles-criminaldefense.org