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At 0.17, Michigan charges a different crime. Twice the jail exposure, a year without a full license, and a breath interlock before you drive again.
Most people go through this once, without a map. The numbers below are the official count, not our estimate. The rest of this guide is the map.
Source: Michigan Vehicle Code, MCL 257.625(1)(c) and 257.625(9)(a), and the Michigan courts' criminal sentencing chart.
Each phase protects the one after it. Get medical care fast, open the claim on time, build the record, then settle from strength.
What time you were stopped, what time you were arrested, and what time the breath or blood test happened. The gap between driving and testing is a fact the defense uses. Keep the citation, the court date, and any notice together. Do not post about it.
If you refused the test at the station and the number came from a blood warrant, there is a separate license case with a 14-day clock to request a hearing. MCL 257.625f. Most high BAC cases come from a breath test you took, so there is no refusal notice, but check.
Have the stop date, the reading, and the court name. The first question is whether the reading holds. Criminal fees are quoted in writing before you decide anything.
The calibration log, the observation period, the two samples, the officer's certification, and the stop and station video. For a blood draw, the lab report and chain of custody. This is where a 0.17 case becomes a 0.16 case or stays a 0.17 case.
Whether the stop was lawful, whether the test comes in, and whether the number survives. A high BAC charge reduced to standard OWI or OWVI changes the license penalty from a year with an interlock to weeks. That is the fight.
Every injury claim in Michigan runs on clocks that start the day you are hurt. The forms are simple and the deadlines are unforgiving.
Time from the crash to each cutoff. Every case has facts that can shift these, which is exactly what a free first look confirms.
No formula survives contact with a real case, but the drivers are knowable. Economic damages are receipts and math. Pain and suffering is argued, not calculated, and multiplier rules of thumb are internet folklore.
Reported contributing factors, statewide. The other driver's behavior is often the heart of the fault argument.
Source: Michigan State Police 2024 year-end crash data.
The high BAC offense at MCL 257.625(1)(c), charged when a first-offense driver's blood alcohol level is 0.17 or above. It carries roughly double the jail exposure of a standard OWI and a one-year license suspension with an ignition interlock.
0.17 or higher. The standard OWI limit is 0.08, so the high BAC line is a little more than twice the legal limit.
Up to 180 days in jail, a fine of $200 to $700, up to 360 hours of community service, possible alcohol treatment for up to a year, six points, and a one-year license suspension with no driving for 45 days and an interlock-only restricted license after that. MCL 257.625(9)(a).
No. The statute sets a maximum of 180 days, not a minimum. Whether jail is ordered depends on the court, the facts, and the record. The license suspension and the interlock are set by law and happen regardless.
Yes, for one year. The first 45 days are a hard suspension with no driving. After that you can apply for a restricted license that requires an ignition interlock on the car for the rest of the year.
You pay installation and a monthly lease to the vendor, not the state. Prices vary by vendor, and the device stays on the car for the length of the restricted license. The Secretary of State lists approved vendors.
No. The high BAC charge is for a first offense. With a prior within seven years, a 0.17 reading is charged as OWI second offense, which has a mandatory minimum of five days in jail and a license revocation. MCL 257.625(9)(b).
It can be, if the number does not hold or the prosecutor agrees to a plea to standard OWI or OWVI. Whether that happens depends on the test records, the stop, and the county. No lawyer can promise it.
Two cases. The refusal starts a one-year implied consent suspension that you have 14 days to contest. The blood result, if it is 0.17 or above, supports the high BAC charge in court. The 14-day clock is the shorter one.
Yes. After taking the police test, you have the right to a reasonable opportunity for an independent test by someone of your choosing, at your expense. MCL 257.625a(6)(d). If police unreasonably refuse, the charge is not dismissed, but the jury can be told the right was violated.
A first drunk driving conviction can be set aside once, after five years, by applying to the court, if there is no later drunk driving offense. MCL 780.621c and 780.621d. The driving record at the Secretary of State keeps it.
A high BAC case is a case about a number, so the decisions that matter are the ones about how the number gets taken and challenged. Newest first. We update this section if a new ruling changes it.
November 10, 2026
Michigan Supreme Court, decided July 26, 2022, Docket No. 162833
A Tuscola County deputy saw two cars stopped in the road, drivers talking, no other traffic around. He followed one driver down a one-lane driveway and parked behind him, blocking the only way out. He smelled marijuana and alcohol and the arrest followed.
The Supreme Court held the driver was seized the moment the patrol car blocked the driveway, and that the impeding-traffic statute is only violated when actual traffic is disrupted. There was none. The stop was unlawful and the evidence stayed out.
Before the number matters, the stop has to be lawful. A 0.17 reading from an unlawful stop does not come in.
United States Supreme Court, decided June 23, 2016, 579 US 438
The Court split breath tests from blood tests. A breath test after a lawful drunk driving arrest is a search incident to arrest and needs no warrant. A blood test is more intrusive and needs a warrant unless you consent or there is a true emergency.
A state may not make it a crime to refuse a warrantless blood test. Civil consequences for refusing, like a license suspension, are allowed.
Refusing the breath test in Michigan costs the license for a year. Police can still get a warrant for blood, and a blood result of 0.17 supports the high BAC charge.
Michigan Supreme Court, decided July 31, 2006, 476 Mich 436
A Berrien County driver took the police breath test and blew 0.21. He then asked to be taken for an independent test, first to a hospital in Indiana, then to Watervliet Community Hospital 15 to 20 minutes away. The officer refused both and offered only the hospital police routinely used. The driver declined that one and never got an independent test.
The district court found the refusal of the Watervliet request unreasonable and a violation of MCL 257.625a(6)(d). The Supreme Court held that dismissal is not the remedy for that violation, overruling the older rule, but the trial court may tell the jury the driver's statutory right was violated and let the jury decide what to make of it.
Ask for the independent test. If police refuse without a good reason, the jury hears about it.
These decisions describe how courts read the statute in the cases in front of them. They do not tell you how your own case will come out, because your facts control that. If you are holding a citation with a 0.17 or higher on it, call Azzo Law at 844-ASK-AZZO (844-275-2996).
Lauren Sitto Azzo, lead attorney at Azzo Law, PLLC, is responsible for the content of this page. This section is general information about Michigan and federal court decisions and not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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