Out of State Drivers

Driving Under the Influence

When you are arrested for a DUI in Nevada, there are two actions the government takes against you.  You will be arrested and charged with a crime.  Additionally, the Nevada DMV will administratively take away the “privilege” of driving within the State of Nevada.  You may be unable to legally drive just 10 days after your DUI arrest.  Driving in Nevada while your license is revoked from a DUI arrest is no laughing matter. A conviction for this crime carries a mandatory  minimum 30 day jail sentence. 

A Nevada DUI conviction may affect your driving privileges in your home State, or the State that issued your driver’s license under the Driver License Compact (DLC). The DLC was designed to maximize law enforcement of  DUI laws and other serious traffic offenses by sharing information about driving-related convictions and adverse administrative actions.  The DLC mandates that all States who adopted the law (party states) report driving-related convictions to the National Driver Register and to the State where the driver’s license was issued (home state).  Further the DLC directs that the conviction shall be treated the same way by the home state as if the conviction happened there. 
In short, if you lose your Nevada driving privileges and/or are convicted of a DUI in Nevada,  this information will be delivered to your home state, who is legally bound to punish you again under your State’s own laws. 

Regardless of where your license was issued, if you are arrested for a DUI in Nevada, you have the right to have an attorney defend you in a DMV administrative hearing where he will challenge the Nevada DMV taking away your driving privileges.       

The States that are NOT members of the DLC are Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Tennessee, and Wisconsin; however, this does not mean that these states will not discover a conviction and/or they do not also regulate out of state driving convictions.