If you are convicted of driving with an excessive blood alcohol concentration (BAC), you may be sentenced to serve:
- Up to six months in jail. ✓
- Up to 12 months in jail.
- No jail time, but you must pay a fine of $500.
Answer: A. Up to six months in jail.
You may be sentenced to up to six months in jail.
Why this is the answer
The handbook's list of penalties for a DUI conviction says you may be sentenced to up to six months in jail and may also have to pay a fine. Driving with an excessive blood alcohol concentration is a DUI, so the jail exposure listed there is the six-month maximum. The handbook presents jail and a fine as separate possible penalties, so a fine alone is not the full picture it describes.
Why the other answers are wrong
- B. Up to 12 months in jail. — The handbook caps the jail sentence at six months for a DUI conviction, not twelve.
- C. No jail time, but you must pay a fine of $500. — The handbook says you may be sentenced to jail and may have to pay a fine, so it does not describe a fine-only outcome with no jail possibility.
Remember it
Think of six months as the ceiling the handbook puts on jail time for a DUI conviction.
Official handbook: California Driver Handbook (DL 600), Section 9: Alcohol and Drugs, p. 74