Missouri drunk driving laws are pretty cut and dried. If you’re driving drunk and police stop you, you’ll receive a driving while intoxicated (DWI) charge that will result in you immediately losing your driver’s license for ninety days.
The only way you can drive during a Missouri drunk driving suspension is if you apply for a Restricted Driving Privilege (RDP). You’re not eligible for the RDP if you have had another drunk driving charge on your record over the past five years, but if you haven’t been charged within five years and your driver’s license isn’t suspended for another reason, there are two ways you can drive again in Missouri.
Drive immediately with an ignition interlock
You can resume driving immediately after receiving a Missouri drunk driving charge if you install an ignition interlock in your vehicle. You’ll have to use your ignition interlock in every vehicle you drive and keep it installed for the entire time you’re required to.
Wait out a thirty-day driver’s license suspension
If you’ve received a Missouri drunk driving charge you can choose to spend thirty days without your driver’s license and then apply for a sixty-day RDP. During your sixty day RDP you’ll need to use an ignition interlock device in any vehicle you own or drive.
If you don’t think either of these scenarios is appealing and you don’t want to apply for RDP, you can’t drive at all. Driving with a suspended license has a set of penalties all of its own, and you don’t want to get caught skirting the law.
No matter whether you choose to drive immediately with an ignition interlock or wait out a thirty day suspension and then begin driving with the device, if you want to drive after a DWI conviction in Missouri, you’ll have to warm up to the idea of an ignition interlock. For any drunk driver, it’s the easiest path back to the road and on with your life.