It is important to read the tiny print on the back of your DUI traffic citation. It carries a very important alert that you must request a Formal Review Hearing within ten days of your arrest. Fail to do so, and you “waive” your right to attend the hearing, to be represented there by an attorney, to cross examine the arresting officer, present witnesses of your own, to test the evidence against you and to challenge the fairness of the proceeding.

You have the right to request an Informal Review Hearing where no testimony is taken and the hearing officer makes a decision by only reviewing the documentation in your file.

Fail to ask for a Formal Review Hearing or decide not to have an attorney represent you, and you’re almost guaranteed to lose your license for: A) Six months if you failed the breath test, or B) One year if you refused the breath test. This is called an “administrative suspension”, and it means that you will have no permit to drive at all – not even a work permit – for the first thirty days of a six-month suspension or for the first ninety days of a suspension where you refused the breath test. A second breath test failure or refusal significantly increases the length of a suspension.