If you end up drinking more than you intended on a night out with friends, you may be thinking that you should do the responsible thing and avoid driving home. This is a great instinct, and you have a number of different ways of getting home or sobering up, but one option that some people unfortunately opt for is to sleep off their inebriation in their vehicle.
We understand that the nights can get cold in Minnesota and that you shouldn’t be any danger to anyone else if you simply sleep in your vehicle until you’re sober enough to drive, but this choice can have severe consequences if you’re not careful. In today’s blog, we explain why it may be unwise to try to sober up by “sleeping it off” in your car.
Sleeping In Your Car And Physical Control
In Minnesota, you don’t need to be barreling down the highway at 70 miles per hour while under the influence in order to be in violation of the state’s driving while intoxicated statute. In fact, you don’t need to have the vehicle out of park or even have the keys in the ignition to technically be considered in violation of Minnesota’s DWI statute.
That’s because in Minnesota, you are considered to be driving under the influence if you take “physical control” over the vehicle while you are over the 0.08 legal driving limit. In Minnesota, a person is considered in physical control over the vehicle if they are in possession of the car keys and could turn the vehicle’s engine on at any point. This means that if you’re sleeping in your vehicle with your keys in your coat pocket, you could be charged with DWI if someone calls you in and a police officer arrives to scope out the scene.
Instead of sleeping it off in your vehicle, our recommendation is to find another way to get home safely. Ride with a sober friend or take an Uber or Lyft. Heck, you can even walk home if you’re not far away and the weather complies. Avoid giving police any reason to think that you are under the influence and in physical control of the vehicle.
If by some circumstance your only option is to sleep in your vehicle, be very mindful about your location and the location of your keys. Set yourself up in the back seat, and make it a point to keep your keys away from the driver’s seat. Heck, if you can access the trunk, put your keys in there and send yourself a text message to remind yourself where you stored the keys. Don’t sleep in the trunk if there’s a possibility that you could end up stuck there, but do what you can to make it clear that you are in no way in physical control of the vehicle.
Again, sleeping in your vehicle after a night of drinking should only be an absolute last resort. Suck it up and pay the Uber fee or crash with a friend or family member. Only sleep in your vehicle while intoxicated if there are no other options, and don’t make the driver’s seat your home for the night.
Plan ahead and get home safely, but know that you take physical control of a vehicle when you sit in the driver’s seat with the keys in your possession, so be mindful of how this could impact your situation. If you end up in trouble or facing a different criminal charge, please reach out to an experienced legal team. In the greater Twin Cities area, let Avery and the team at Appelman Law Firm be that resource. Give our team a call today at (952) 224-2277.
