DUI Laws in Maine: Penalties, BAC Limits & License Suspension

What Maine calls it, the legal BAC limit, and the deadline you cannot miss

In Maine, drunk or drugged driving is charged as OUI — Operating Under the Influence — under Title 29-A, section 2411 of the Maine Revised Statutes. You may also hear "DUI" used casually, but OUI is the term you'll see on your paperwork, your court summons, and Maine's own statute.

The standard per se BAC limit is 0.08% for drivers 21 and older — the same threshold used nationwide. But three other numbers matter just as much, and Maine sets them at:

• 0.04% for commercial driver's license (CDL) holders operating a commercial vehicle.
• Zero tolerance for drivers under 21 — Maine prohibits anyone under 21 from operating with any amount of intoxicants, so any measurable alcohol is enough for a suspension and possible OUI charge, per Maine's Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV).
• 0.15% or higher is treated as an aggravating fact that Maine's law singles out for a mandatory minimum jail term even on a first offense, under section 2411.

If you were arrested in Maine, the most urgent number is 10 days. That is how long you have to request a hearing with the Secretary of State's Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) to contest an administrative license suspension — see the ALS section below.

Implied consent and refusing a chemical test

By driving in Maine, you've already agreed to Maine's implied consent law: if an officer has probable cause to believe you were operating under the influence, you must submit to a chemical test of your blood or breath. Refusing does not avoid an OUI case — it triggers its own separate, automatic consequences:

• An administrative license suspension of at least 275 days for a first refusal, imposed by the BMV independent of whether you're later convicted of OUI. This suspension runs consecutive to — that is, stacked on top of, not at the same time as — any suspension from an OUI conviction.
• Longer suspensions for repeat refusals within the lookback period, running well into multiple years. Confirm the current repeat-refusal figures directly with the Maine BMV or a Maine defense attorney before relying on them.
• Refusal can be used as evidence against you in court in the underlying OUI case, and if you're convicted, refusal also raises the mandatory minimum fine and jail exposure for that conviction (see below).

Refusing is not a way to make the problem disappear — it adds a second, largely automatic penalty on top of whatever happens in the criminal case.

Administrative license suspension: the 10-day deadline, explained

Maine's Secretary of State, through the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV), can suspend your license administratively based on a failed or refused chemical test — before you've ever been convicted of anything in court. This is separate from, and moves faster than, your criminal case.

You have 10 days from the effective date of the suspension notice to submit a written request for a hearing under Title 29-A section 2483. This is not a formality:

1. If you request a hearing within the 10-day window, the Secretary of State must hold the hearing and issue a decision within 30 days of your request. Important: under section 2483, a hearing request by itself does not stay (pause) the suspension unless the statute specifically provides otherwise — so the suspension can still take effect on its stated date while you await the hearing.
2. If you miss the 10-day window, you generally lose the chance to contest the suspension administratively — though the BMV can waive a late request only in narrow circumstances, such as if you never actually received notice.
3. This BMV hearing is a separate track from your criminal court case. Winning or losing it does not decide the criminal charge, and vice versa.

Because this deadline is short and the consequences of missing it are largely irreversible, contact the Maine BMV or a Maine attorney immediately after an arrest — not after your first court date.

First-offense OUI penalties in Maine

For a first OUI conviction with no prior OUI within the lookback period, Maine's statute sets these as minimums a court cannot suspend or waive — the actual sentence can be higher depending on the facts:

• License suspension: at least 150 days. Maine's BMV also offers a path to shorten the suspension if you enroll in the state's ignition interlock program — confirm current eligibility rules and interlock costs with the BMV, since program details change.
• Ignition interlock device (IID): not automatically mandatory for a bare first offense in the statute itself, but strongly encouraged through the BMV's interlock program because it can restore driving privileges faster; refusal cases and higher-BAC cases may face different interlock requirements.
• Fine: a minimum fine applies, and that statutory minimum is higher if you refused testing. Confirm the current minimum with the court or a Maine attorney, since fines and surcharges are set and periodically adjusted by statute and court fees.
• Jail: a first offense with a BAC under 0.15% and no test refusal does not necessarily carry a mandatory minimum jail term, but Maine law imposes a mandatory minimum of at least 48 hours if your BAC tested at 0.15% or higher, and a longer mandatory minimum if you refused the test. Beyond any mandatory minimum, a judge has discretion up to the maximum allowed for the offense.

OUI is classified as a Class D crime in Maine for a first offense — described in the statute as a strict-liability offense, meaning the prosecution does not have to prove you intended to drive impaired, only that you did.

Lookback period: how long a prior OUI counts against you

Maine uses a 10-year lookback period to determine whether a new OUI is treated as a first, second, third, or later offense — each tier carrying escalating mandatory minimum fines, jail time, and suspension lengths. One important exception: prior convictions involving a death or certain serious injury-related OUI offenses can count against you with no time limit, meaning a decades-old conviction of that kind can still elevate a new charge.

When OUI becomes a felony in Maine

Most first and second OUI offenses in Maine are misdemeanors. The charge is elevated to a felony when:

• It is your third or subsequent OUI conviction within the 10-year lookback — charged as a Class C felony.
• The OUI causes serious bodily injury to another person — also charged as a Class C felony regardless of prior record.
• The OUI causes the death of another person, or the driver has a qualifying prior conviction involving impaired-driving homicide — charged as a Class B felony.

Felony OUI in Maine carries mandatory minimum jail time measured in months (not days), multi-year license suspensions, and substantially higher mandatory minimum fines. Because these consequences are severe and fact-specific, anyone facing a felony-level OUI charge should speak with a Maine criminal defense attorney as soon as possible.

What to do after a DUI/OUI arrest in Maine

1. Note the date on your suspension paperwork immediately. Your 10-day window to request a BMV hearing under section 2483 starts running from the effective date on that notice — not from your court date, which will come later.
2. Request the BMV hearing in writing before the 10 days expire if you want any chance to contest the administrative suspension. Do this even if you also plan to fight the criminal charge separately.
3. Do not discuss the facts of your stop or arrest with anyone except your attorney. Anything you say to police, a bail commissioner, or the BMV can be used against you.
4. Contact a Maine criminal defense attorney as soon as possible — ideally before the 10-day BMV deadline — since the same facts affect both the administrative suspension and the criminal case.
5. Ask about the ignition interlock program if maintaining some driving privilege matters to you; eligibility and timing vary by case.
6. Attend every scheduled court date. Missing a court date in an OUI case can result in an additional arrest warrant and license consequences on top of the underlying charge.

This article is general legal information about Maine law, not legal advice for your specific situation — confirm current statutes and deadlines with the Maine BMV, Maine courts, or a licensed Maine attorney.