Chicago DUI attorney comments on the higher standard for truckers with DUI's

This Chicago DUI attorney has posted here, here, and here about truckers.  She can admit that this piece has come as a bit of a surprise to her.

From suntimes.com:

An apparently drunk Chicago trucker lost control and smashed into a 180-foot communication tower early Monday, causing it to topple over two lanes of traffic on a I-65 ramp.

At 1:56 a.m., a 1998 Kenworth semi hauling a rail container was east on I-80 and heading to the the south I-65 ramp when the driver, 52-year-old Jose Herrera, stated another trucker cut him off and he had to take evasive action, according to an Indiana State Police release.

Herrera, who told police he had three beers before picking up his load in Chicago, continued straight instead of following the ramp's curve, going off the road, down an embankment and through a chain link fence, the release said. The truck then hit a 180-foot camera tower belonging to the Indiana Dept. of Transportation, causing it to fall north across both lanes of the I-65 northbound to I-80 westbound ramp.Herrera was coming from Chicago and going to Columbus, Indiana with a load of auto parts weighting 41,912 pounds, the release said. He lost none of the load in the crash.

Troopers found an open can of beer in the truck.

In Illinois, truckers and others with Commercial Driver’s Licenses are held to a higher standard.  A CDL holder charged with a DUI will find her/his license disqualified for over a year.  That is the law even if the CDL holder was not in a commercial vehicle at the time of the charge.  

625 ILCS 5/6-514:

 (a) A person shall be disqualified from driving a commercial motor vehicle for a period of not less than 12 months for the first violation of: 

        (1) Refusing to submit to or failure to complete a

test or tests to determine the driver's blood concentration of alcohol, other drug, or both, while driving a commercial motor vehicle or, if the driver is a CDL holder, while driving a non‑CMV; or

(2) Operating a commercial motor vehicle while the

alcohol concentration of the person's blood, breath or urine is at least 0.04, or any amount of a drug, substance, or compound in the person's blood or urine resulting from the unlawful use or consumption of cannabis listed in the Cannabis Control Act, a controlled substance listed in the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, or methamphetamine as listed in the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act as indicated by a police officer's sworn report or other verified evidence; or operating a non‑commercial motor vehicle while the alcohol concentration of the person's blood, breath, or urine was above the legal limit defined in Section 11‑501.1 or 11‑501.8 or any amount of a drug, substance, or compound in the person's blood or urine resulting from the unlawful use or consumption of cannabis listed in the Cannabis Control Act, a controlled substance listed in the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, or methamphetamine as listed in the Methamphetamine Control and Community Protection Act as indicated by a police officer's sworn report or other verified evidence while holding a commercial driver's license.

Since CDL holders are held to a more stringent standard than operator's license holders it is difficult to conceive of the truck driver actually having a beer in his truck.