DWI TEST & ALCOHOL ASSESSMENT   

YOUR HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:

If you are not going to rely on filing a petition for judicial review to get your license back, or even if you are doing that but you want to get a limited license for driving to and from work while you await the results of your petition, you are going to have to take the DWI test.  To pass that test I recommend careful study of certain parts of the Minnesota Driver's Manual.

• Click here to go directly to latest version of Chapter 7

• Click here to go directly to latest version of Chapter 8

Above are links to Chapters 7 and 8 of the Minnesota Driver's Manual.  Be patient.  They load slowly.  Usually the DWI test which the state requires for the reinstatement of a driving license is based on these two chapters.  The test is given on a computer, so you need to be able to use a keyboard and mouse.  Since the state keeps making major revisions to those chapters,  we have given up trying to reproduce their entire text here.  Spend some time studying this material before you take the DWI Test.  You'll be glad you did.  The last we heard, a score of 75% or better was required to pass the test.  We understand the test can now be taken in Spanish if that helps.

A client recently reported to us that the test she was given included a few questions about child restraints.  That material is in Chapter 3, so you might be well advised to look at that too.

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ALCOHOL ASSESSMENT INTERVIEW

Assuming that you plead guilty to an alcohol-related driving offense, the judge may require that you undergo an interview with a probation officer to determine whether or to what extent you have a drinking or substance abuse problem.  In Hennepin County this is becoming less common than it once was, especially for first time offenders with breath test readings below .20. 

To avoid having you exploring this issue for the first time with someone who is part counselor and part policeman, I sometimes suggest to you that you have an assessment done privately prior to court.  To have this done privately you should go to someone who is a psychiatrist, a psychologist or a a Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor (CCDP).  Your lawyer should be able to give you some referrals, and you should also be able to find lots of such counselors in the yellow pages under "Alcohol."  The usual fee for an assessment is around $250.  You may be able to have this covered by your health insurance.  Consider how much you trust the confidentiality procedures of your insurance company before you submit anything to them, however.  If you don't have the assessment done privately, the court will charge you a fee anyway for the assessment by the probation officer; but the judge usually will waive that fee when you have already had an evaluation done privately.

The assessment may include written testing as well as a face to face interview.  During this interview, several methods are used to double check whether you are telling the truth, so just be truthful to begin with.  Alcoholics lie a lot.  If you are caught lying about anything, that tends to prove you have a problem.  The counselor will ask for a "collateral source" to talk to besides just talking with you.  A collateral source is someone who knows you really well, such as a spouse, relative or roommate.  The counselor won't just take your word for everything, but will do some checking with the "collateral source."  A private counselor ordinarily will not call your employer or anyone else without your permission, however.

To do a short test of yourself on your own, and to get a taste of the kind of questions you will be asked, you might want to take a look at the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test.

If you are a first time offender in Hennepin County and your test reading is less than .20, you will be sent to the Hennepin County One Day Program; and you will not have an interview by a probation officer at the courthouse.  Since the One Day Program started, I have not been pushing as hard as I used to for my clients to get a private assessment done, at least not in the cases where the reading is relatively low.  I have also been reluctant to push clients who have been arrested in Ramsey County to have private assessments.  Ramsey County now has it's own one-size-fits-all evaluation, counseling and education program, and my experience has been that private assessments are mostly ignored there. 

There are lots of considerations, and whether or not a private assessment will be helpful to your case is a matter you should discuss with your lawyer.  You might also want to do it just for your own personal health, and not necessarily for use in court.

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CONTACTING THE DEPT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

As you go through the process of getting your license back, you may from time to time need to call or the Department of Public Safety.  Here is their web address and a handy list of phone numbers:

To check the status of your license go to http://www.dps.state.mn.us.  Scroll down and click on Driver and Vehicle Services (left side of screen).  Then click on Online Services, and click on the circle for DL Status.  Enter your DL number and click on Get Record.

To find a driver license testing station, click here.

651-297-3298    General Driver License Information
651-296-6911    All Questions
651-296-2025    Driver Evaluation
651-296-2221    DL Suspensions/FTA Fines
651-296-2875    DL Test Range
651-296-3279    Accident Records
651-296-2015    No-Fault Compliance
651-297-3402    Fax number for DL reinstatements
651-296-2035    Number to call to verify if fax was received.  

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