North Carolina law for the "per se" charge of DWI doesn't care about how the individual was driving, how they appeared, how well or poorly they did on field sobriety tests, or anything else other than the chemical test results. For purposes of the North Carolina per se laws, the primary issue relates to blood or breath alcohol levels of .08% or higher "any relevant time after driving."

North Carolina drunk driving laws are some of the toughest in the country. Recent amendments to North Carolina DWI laws include laws that:

• Strengthens the open container law to prohibit anyone in motor vehicle from having open containers of beer or wine while in a public vehicular area.
• Strengthens the ignition-interloc requirement so that an offender will be required to have the alcohol-sensing device installed not just in his or her primary vehicle, but all vehicle registered in their name.
• Establishes a blood alcohol content of 0.04 for those who have been convicted of a DWI and have had their license reinstated.
• Establishes a blood alcohol content of 0.00 for those who have been convicted of a second DWI and have had their license reinstated.
• Requires those who are convicted of having a blood alcohol level of .16 or greater to use an ignition-interloc system in their vehicles before their license is restored.

In addition, North Carolina can seize the vehicle of a driver whose license is revoked by another state, if the revocation is for an offense that is "substantially" similar to one -- if committed in North Carolina -- would make the vehicle subject to seizure. This would apply to a DWI violation charged to an out-of-state driver whose license has been revoked for a previous DWI.

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