Welcome to English as a Second Language podcast number one thousand and twenty-two.
Being cited for a DUI.
This is English as a Second Language podcast episode one thousand twenty-two.
I'm your host, Dr Jeff McQuillan, coming to you from the Center for Educational Development in beautiful Los Angeles, California.
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This episode is a dialogue between Susan and Jack about drinking and driving.
Never a good idea.
Let's get started.
Hey, Jack, you're an attorney.
Do you know anything about DUIs?
Sure.
I've handled a few DUI cases.
I was just wondering about the penalties for a DUI.
Well, if it's a first offense you'll be fined and may be placed on probation.
You'll need to attend DUI school And your license will be restricted, which means you can only drive to and from work and to and from DUI school.
That sounds serious.
But what if it's not your first offense?
Then the penalties get even more serious.
With your second offense you'll probably do mandatory jail time, anywhere from 96 hours to a year, depending on the circumstances.
Your driver's license will be suspended and you'll be placed on probation for several years.
Those are some severe penalties.
But what if you already have two DUIs?
Then you'll get several months in jail at least.
Your license will be revoked and you may be required to go into an alcohol treatment program.
Why are you asking me all of these questions?
You're not in trouble, are you?
No, I'm not.
I just met a guy and I really like him.
But I think he just got his third DUI.
If that isn't deterrent enough, you may think about what kind of relationship you can have with him from behind bars.
This dialogue is between Susan and Jack.
Susan says to Jack, Hey, Jack, you're an attorney.
Notice Susan appears to be a friend of Jack because she says, hey.
That would be a word we would use with a friend or someone we know well.
Susan says to Jack, you're an attorney.
An attorney.
A-T-T-O-R-N-E-Y is a lawyer, someone who studies the laws of a particular state or country and often represents other people in legal actions.
If you are arrested by the police, you will probably want to get an attorney in the United States.
If you don't have money for an attorney, the government will pay for an attorney for you, although it won't necessarily be the best attorney.
But you will get someone in our story.
Jack is an attorney.
And Susan is asking him if he knows anything about DUIs.
A DUI is when you are arrested for driving under the influence.
The I in DUI stands for influence.
And that means that you are affected by something.
Something.
What are you affected by?
Well, usually alcohol.
So driving under the influence means driving under the influence of alcohol, driving while you have alcohol in your system, we would say in your body, and it is affecting how you drive.
Obviously, if you drink too much, you get drunk, and then you aren't able to drive as well as people who are not drinking, or at least as well as most people who are not drinking.
DUIs then are Offenses, things you can get arrested for.
In the United States, it's a very serious offense nowadays.
In the last oh, maybe 30, 40 years, the laws have become much tougher on people who drink and drive at the same time.
Definitely not something you want to do, not just for legal reasons, but for safety reasons as well.
Jack says to Susan, sure, I've handled a few DUI cases.
To handle H-A-N-D-L-E as a verb means to be responsible for, to take care of or to manage something.
Here it means to have participated in and taken care of or been responsible for something.
A case, C-A-S-E, here refers to a legal process or legal matter, something involving the law.
Jack says he's handled a few DUI cases, that is, legal matters that involve people who were arrested for driving under the influence.
Susan says, I was just wondering about the penalties for a DUI.
A penalty is a punishment for breaking some rule or some law.
Jack says, well, if it's a first offense... you'll be fined and may be placed on probation.
A first offense is the first time that you break a law.
An offense, O-F-F-E-N-S-E, is when you do something wrong, something, in this case, illegal.
So a first offense would be the first time that you broke this law.
I should mention that the laws regarding DUIs relate not just to people who are drinking, but also people who are taking any sort of drug that would affect their ability to drive properly.
If you've been drinking and driving, the police will measure your blood alcohol level, the amount of alcohol in your body, and if it is more than the acceptable amount, you will almost certainly be arrested, taken in by the police or, at the very least, you will be given a ticket, a notification that you have broken the law and have to pay some sort of penalty or be punished somehow.
One way that you can be punished is to be fined.
To be fined F-I-N-E-D means to have to pay money to the government or some official organization for something you did wrong.
Jack says, Jack says, P-R-O-B-A-T-I-O-N.
To be placed on probation means to be told that you can't commit any more crimes or any similar crime for a certain amount of time.
The reason people are placed on probation is to prevent them from committing the crime again.
And if they do, then they will be punished even more.
So if you are on probation for six months or one year and you are arrested again for a DUI, your punishment will be much more severe.
It will be Much greater than if you were not on probation.
Usually, when someone is arrested for something serious after they are released from prison, they are on probation.
They have to basically not break any laws for a certain amount of time.
And if they do, they can sometimes be sent back to prison.
Jack says, you'll need to attend DUI school and your license will be restricted, which means you can only drive to and from work and to and from DUI school.
DUI school is basically an educational program you have to undertake, you have to participate in.
That reminds you of the laws of driving.
To have your license.
Your driver's license or permission restricted means that you can only drive certain places or under certain circumstances.
So you can't drive around the city just because you want to.
You can only drive from your house to your work, for example.
That would be one possible restriction on your driving privileges or driving abilities.
Susan says that sounds serious, but what if it's not your first offense?
Susan wants to know what if you have broken the law more than once.
Jack explains, then the penalties get even more serious.
With your second offense, you'll probably do mandatory jail time.
A jail, J-A-I-L, is the same as a prison.
Jail time means spending time in prison. mandatory, M-A-N-D-A-T-O-R-Y, means it's required.
It's not voluntary or optional.
You have to do it.
How much time will you have to spend in prison?
Well, it depends on the state in which you live.
In our dialogue.
Jack says it can be anywhere from 96 hours to a year, depending on the circumstances.
Your driver's license will be suspended, Jack says, and you'll be placed on probation for several years.
Your driver's license, as we explained, is your permission to drive.
If your license is suspended, you can no longer drive.
You have to wait until your period of punishment is over, which could be several years.
Susan says those are some severe penalties.
Severe means very strict or very serious.
Severe refers to a situation that is very extreme in some negative way.
Susan says, but what if you already have two DUIs?
What if you've been arrested twice for drunk driving or driving under the influence?
Jack says, then you'll get several months in jail at least, meaning at minimum your license will be revoked and you may be required to go into an alcohol treatment program.
If your license is revoked, R-E-V-O-K-E-D, it is taken away from you completely.
Notice that you can have your license suspended, which means you can't use it for a, Or you could have your license revoked, which means you lose your license completely.
And often, you won't be able to get another license.
An alcohol treatment program is a program that helps you get over your problems with drinking.
You could also go into a drug treatment program if your problem is with some other sort of drug.
Jack says, why are you asking me all of these questions?
You're not in trouble, are you?
Susan says, no, I'm not.
I just met a guy and I really like him.
But I think he just got his third DUI.
So Susan has met some gentleman in whom she's interested romantically.
But this gentleman has three DUIs.
Jack says, A deterrent D-E-T-E-R-R-E-N-T is something that discourages you from doing something, something that would prevent you from doing something or give you a good reason not to do something.
Jack is saying that the fact that this man that Susan is interested in has three DUIs should be a deterrent to her.
It should prevent her or discourage her from forming a romantic relationship with him.
The reason Jack says this is because it would be, for one thing, difficult to have such a relationship if the man is in prison.
The expression from behind bars, B-A-R-S, refers to being in prison.
The bar here isn't a place where you go to drink.
The bars are metal rods or sticks that are placed on the windows of a prison to prevent people from leaving the prison.
Now let's listen to the dialogue, this time at a normal speed.
Hey Jack, you're an attorney.
Do you know anything about DUIs?
Sure, I've handled a few DUI cases.
I was just wondering about the penalties for a DUI.
Well, if it's a first offense, you'll be fined and may be placed on probation.
You'll need to attend DUI school and your license will be restricted, which means you can only drive to and from work and to and from DUI school.
That sounds serious, but what if it's not your first offense?
Then the penalties get even more serious.
With your second offense you'll probably do mandatory jail time, anywhere from 96 hours to a year, depending on the circumstances.
Your driver's license will be suspended, and you'll be placed on probation for several years.
Those are some severe penalties.
But what if you already have two DUIs?
Then you'll get several months in jail, at least.
Your license will be revoked, and you may be required to go into an alcohol treatment program.
Why are you asking me all these questions?
You're not in trouble, are you?
No, I'm not.
I just met a guy, and I really like him.
But I think he just got his third DUI.
If that isn't deterrent enough, you may think about what kind of relationship you can have with him from behind bars.
Dr Lucy Say handles all of our scripts here at ESL Podcast and we thank her for her wonderful service.
From Los Angeles, California.
I'm Jeff McQuillan, not behind bars, thanking you for listening and inviting you to listen to us again right here on ESL Podcast.
English as a Second Language Podcast is written and produced by Dr Lucy Say, hosted by Dr Jeff McQuillan.
Copyright 2014 by the Center for Educational Development.
