The legal limit for alcohol while operating a motor vehicle in Illinois is 0.08 percent. Many people are mistaken that a person is guilty of driving under the influence only if his alcohol level is over 0.08. This is not the case. The legal limit is anything greater than 0.079. An alcohol concentration in a person’s blood or breath of 0.08 exactly is over the limit, and that person would be guilty of DUI. An alcohol level of 0.079 is below the legal limit in Illinois and not against the law.
A person who is arrested for DUI and blows a breathalyzer result of 0.08 or more will be charged with violation section (a)(1) of the statute.
625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1) makes it a criminal offense to operate a motor vehicle in the state with an alcohol concentration of 0.08 or more in the person’s blood or breath. The alcohol concentration in the blood or breath would be determined by a blood sample or breathalyzer machine.
This offense is called DUI “per se” in the respect that a person is guilty regardless of whether he or she is intoxicated. A person could feel sober and unimpaired at 0.08 yet still be guilty of driving under the influence.
