You wouldn’t trust your buddy’s cousin who watched a lot of ER to perform your surgery, so why would you trust drunk driving advice from someone who heard it from their drunk uncle? From bad advice about breathalyzers to complete fiction about Miranda rights, there’s a lot of misinformation floating around out there that could seriously damage your case if you’re ever pulled over.
Here are ten of the most common myths about drinking and driving we hear:
- Coffee or a cold shower will sober you up before driving
- Beer and wine aren’t as strong as hard liquor
- Eating food will help you sober up and lower your BAC
- You can only be charged with DWI if your BAC is .08 or higher
- You should always refuse the breathalyzer test
- The only way to handle a DWI charge is to take a plea deal
- If police don’t read you your Miranda rights, your case gets thrown out
- It’s illegal to drink and drive
- You can beat a breathalyzer test with tricks
- If you sleep it off in your car, you’re safe from a DWI charge
Sound familiar? If you’ve heard any of these “facts” before, keep reading — we’re about to set the record straight. And if you or a loved one is currently facing DWI charges in Texas, don’t let myths and misinformation guide your defense strategy.
Mark Thiessen is a board-certified lawyer-scientist who has earned 140+ Not Guilty verdicts and thousands of dismissals for clients just like you. Call Thiessen Law Firm today at (713) 864-9000 or contact us online to get real answers and aggressive representation.
Myth #1: Coffee or a cold shower will sober you up before driving
This is one of those myths about drunk driving that just won’t die, no matter how many times science proves it wrong. Here’s the truth: caffeine doesn’t metabolize alcohol. A cold shower doesn’t metabolize alcohol. Time — and only time — will bring your BAC down.
Your liver processes alcohol at a fixed rate of roughly one standard drink per hour, and there’s absolutely nothing you can do to speed that up. Coffee might make you feel more alert, but it doesn’t make you less drunk — it just makes you a wide-awake drunk driver. The cold shower? Same deal. You’ll be cleaner and maybe less sleepy, but you’re still impaired. If you’ve been drinking, the only real solution is to wait it out or find another way home.
Myth #2: Beer and wine aren’t as strong as hard liquor
Wrong. Alcohol is alcohol, period. This myth is one of the most persistent myths about alcohol consumption, and it’s based on a fundamental misunderstanding of how serving sizes work.
A 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, and a 1.5-ounce shot of 80-proof liquor all contain roughly the same amount of alcohol — about 0.6 ounces of pure ethanol. The beverage industry didn’t randomly decide on these serving sizes; they’re specifically designed to deliver equivalent alcohol loads. So if you’re telling yourself, “I’m just having beers, not shots,” you’re fooling yourself. Three beers can impair you just as much as three shots of whiskey.
Myth #3: Eating food will help you sober up and lower your BAC
Here’s another myth that needs to die: the idea that you can eat your way to sobriety. Sure, having food in your stomach before you start drinking can slow down alcohol absorption, which is why starting the night with a full meal is smart. But once the alcohol is already in your bloodstream? That burger or slice of pizza isn’t doing anything to lower your BAC.
Food can’t pull alcohol out of your blood. It can’t speed up your liver’s metabolism. And it definitely won’t make you safe to drive. Can one drink affect your driving? Absolutely — and eating a meal after that drink won’t change that fact. The only thing that reduces BAC is time, so if you’ve been drinking, plan to stay put or get a ride.
Myth #4: You can only be charged with DWI if your BAC is .08 or higher
This is a dangerous misconception about DWI law in Texas that could land you in serious trouble. While .08 is the legal limit for most drivers, you can absolutely be arrested and charged with DWI at any BAC level if an officer believes you’re impaired.
What is true about drinking alcohol and driving? There are actually types of DWI in Texas that include charges for drivers with BAC levels below .08 — especially if you show signs of impairment during field sobriety tests or through officer observations. This means that even one or two drinks — or even 0 drinks in the case of drug-related DWI — could result in a DWI arrest if you’re swerving, driving erratically, or failing roadside tests. The police won’t just look at numbers; they’ll look at your ability to safely operate a vehicle.
Myth #5: You should always refuse the breathalyzer test
Pay attention to this one, because your freedom might depend on it. While “do not blow” used to be decent advice, enforcement policies have changed dramatically across Texas, and this outdated rule of thumb could seriously backfire on you now.
Here’s one of the most interesting facts about DWI enforcement in Harris County: “No Refusal Weekends” are now essentially 24/7. If you refuse a breath test during a DWI stop, you can almost guarantee that a blood test warrant is already being prepared. This is bad news for several reasons.
- Juries tend to trust blood test results more than breathalyzer results — and they should, because the breathalyzers used by many departments are notoriously unreliable. Blood draws, while not perfect, are perceived as much more accurate.
- There’s the time issue. Remember the “time of driving” rule in Texas? Due to something called retrograde absorption, your BAC at the time of testing might be higher than it was when you were actually driving. The delay between your initial breathalyzer refusal and the eventual blood draw could bump you into a higher BAC category, turning a potential lower-level charge into something much worse.
- Blood tests will also reveal any drugs or medications in your system beyond just alcohol, which could complicate your case even further.
The new rule to remember? Blow, don’t bleed.
Myth #6: The only way to handle a DWI charge is to take a plea deal
Of all the myths floating around, this one is the most frustrating. Too many good people plead guilty to DWI based on shoddy evidence and terrible police work, and it didn’t have to happen that way. Here’s the truth: DWI charges can absolutely be fought and beaten in court, or dismissed outright — but you’ll never know your options without an experienced Houston DWI lawyer helping you defend your case.
Can breathalyzers be wrong? Absolutely. Were field sobriety tests administered correctly? Often, no. Was the traffic stop even legal? That’s another question worth asking.
When you consider the DWI cost in Texas — which can include thousands in fines, increased insurance rates, license suspension, and a permanent criminal record — taking the first plea deal without exploring your defense options is one of the worst decisions you can make. A charge is not a conviction, and as long as the judge hasn’t rapped their gavel, you can fight back with the right attorney in your corner.
Myth #7: If police don’t read you your Miranda rights, your case gets thrown out
This is probably the most common myth we hear. Police are only required to read you your Miranda rights if you’re in custody and being interrogated. During a typical DWI stop, you’re detained for investigation — but you’re not yet “in custody” in the legal sense. That means all those questions during the traffic stop don’t require Miranda warnings. By the time you’re arrested and placed in the back of the police car, the officer has already gathered everything they need: your statements, field sobriety test results, breathalyzer readings, and observations.
Even if your post-arrest statements get suppressed, the prosecution can still use all the evidence collected before your arrest. Field sobriety tests aren’t protected by your Fifth Amendment right to plead the fifth because they’re physical evidence, not testimonial. A Miranda violation might help your case, but it’s rarely a “get out of jail free” card that results in dismissal.
Myth #8: It’s illegal to drink and drive
You didn’t see this one coming, did you? Your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you — it is actually perfectly legal to have a beer, a shot, or a glass of wine and then drive a car, just so long as you aren’t legally intoxicated and you’re not drinking while behind the wheel.
This fact tends to trip up juries, cops, and even suspects. In Texas, there’s something known as the “time of driving” rule, which stipulates that intoxication must be proven at the time of the stop or accident in order to successfully convict someone for DWI. The key distinction is between having consumed alcohol and being impaired — they’re not the same thing under Texas law.
Myth #9: You can beat a breathalyzer test with tricks
Pennies under your tongue, mints, gum, breath spray, hyperventilating, holding your breath — we’ve heard them all, and none of them work. This is one of those myths that refuses to die, probably because people are desperate to believe there’s some magic trick to avoid a DWI charge.
We hate to be the one to tell you, but breathalyzers measure the alcohol in your deep lung air, not your mouth. No amount of mints or mouthwash is going to change the alcohol content coming from your lungs. Hyperventilating might slightly affect the reading, but modern breathalyzers are designed to detect and account for these manipulation attempts.
What’s more, trying to “beat” the test can actually make things worse for you — officers are trained to spot these tricks, and your attempts to fool the machine can be used as evidence of consciousness of guilt. The breathalyzer itself might be unreliable for other reasons (equipment calibration, operator error, medical conditions), but your bag of tricks isn’t going to help.
Myth #10: If you sleep it off in your car, you’re safe from a DWI charge
This myth gets a lot of people in trouble. The logic seems sound: you’ve been drinking, you know you shouldn’t drive, so you decide to sleep it off in your car. Responsible choice, right? Not necessarily — you can still be arrested for DWI in Texas even if you’re not actively driving.
Where you’re parked matters more than most people realize. If you’re passed out in a moving lane of traffic or even on the shoulder of a highway, that alone can raise serious red flags for law enforcement. In situations like these, prosecutors can argue not only that you were in control of the vehicle, but that you had recently been driving.
Texas law prohibits “operating” a motor vehicle while intoxicated, and the definition of “operating” is broader than you might think. Even if the car isn’t moving, being behind the wheel with access to the keys can be enough. Beyond that, the state can build a case using circumstantial evidence — for example, where the car is located, whether the engine is warm, or how it got there in the first place — to argue that you were intoxicated while driving.
Your intent to sleep it off doesn’t necessarily protect you if the evidence suggests you drove while intoxicated or had control of the vehicle. If you absolutely must stay in your car, your best bet is to sleep in the back seat with the keys completely out of reach — but even that isn’t a guarantee you won’t face charges.
What to do if you’re arrested for DWI
Getting arrested for DWI is stressful, but how you handle yourself during and immediately after the arrest can significantly impact your case. Here’s what you need to know to protect yourself and your rights:
- Stay calm and be polite. Remember, you’re likely on camera. Everything you say and do can be used against you in court, so don’t argue, don’t get belligerent, and don’t try to talk your way out of it.
- Exercise your right to remain silent. Beyond providing your name and identification, you don’t have to answer questions. Politely tell the officer you’d like to speak with an attorney.
- Don’t refuse chemical testing without understanding the consequences. In Texas, refusal can lead to automatic license suspension and will likely result in a blood draw warrant anyway.
- Request to speak with an attorney immediately. The sooner you get legal representation involved, the better your chances of building a strong defense.
- Document everything you remember. As soon as you’re able, write down details about the stop: what you were doing, what the officer said, how the tests were conducted, and any inconsistencies you noticed.
- Contact a DWI defense attorney within 15 days. You have a limited window to request an Administrative License Revocation (ALR) hearing to contest your license suspension.
The most important thing to understand is this: a charge is not a conviction. Even if you failed field sobriety tests or blew above the legal limit, you still have options — but only if you act quickly and get the right legal representation on your side.
Facing DWI charges? Don’t take a plea deal without calling Thiessen Law Firm first.
Don’t let myths about drinking and driving guide your defense strategy or cost you your freedom. Mark Thiessen is a board-certified lawyer-scientist who has earned 140+ Not Guilty verdicts and thousands of dismissals for clients facing DWI charges across Texas. He knows how to challenge faulty breathalyzers, illegal stops, improperly administered field sobriety tests, and questionable blood draws — and he’s ready to put that expertise to work for you.
Whether you failed the tests, refused the breathalyzer, or think you don’t have a chance, don’t give up without a fight. Call Thiessen Law Firm today at (713) 864-9000 or contact us online for a free consultation, and let’s start building your defense.
More Helpful Articles by Thiessen Law Firm:
- 7 Signs the DWI Case Against You is Weak
- Do You Need a Lawyer for a DWI?
- What Crimes Can Get You House Arrest in Texas?
- First DWI in Texas: What You Need to Know
- Can You Be Charged with DWI Days Later?
