Well prepare for the children and no-life's here that totally don't understand the laws.
First time DUI is nothing, just expensive...figure about $3-5k just to pay it out including buying back your community service. Hiring a lawyer is usually a gamble in DUI esp if you failed the breath test or worse blood. The law around it doesn't follow typical constitutional law. It's more akin to traffic court where due process and all the protections you get in criminal court are thrown out.
You lawyer is going to be working on retainer as there is no damages, any contests you make to the system will need to have an expert witness present for all the days you are in court. You will have to pay for their time and lodging.
The court drags these out to usually one initial court date in about 6 months, then another court date 3-6 months later and finally a final court date about another 3-6 months later.
If you just plea guilty you can be driving to work (3 months) relatively quickly, if you contest it; you cannot drive even for work until your last court date. In florida you are looking at 6 months total for a first DUI not being able to drive freely.
Most insurance companies don't give too much thought to a first time dui since they are so common.
Most people that drink have been behind the wheel more than once at 0.08%. The limits are too low for the average person, however; drugs don't affect anyone the same way as another so drawing a line in the sand like that is ridiculous. Another thing is the breath test is inherently flawed as it's measuring the alcohol content in the blood of your respiration. This varies from person to person and can be greatly affected by even a small cut to the mouth.
MADD/SADD has proven to be a great political lobby...they push tons of non-related bills into laws and generate a ton of revenue for the government. In reality, statistically the average person drinking behind the wheel is not sending people to the hospital or killing them anymore than a typical late night / tired driver is. You do have the fall-down drunk exceptions, but even these people are usually only harming property and themselves. However; that is the stereotype the uneducated see when they consider DUI.
I paid mine out, I was arrested in my parking space. I had to pay excessive rates for the towing (about 5x as much as a regular tow), a boot on my car for 10 days (if I was poor and it was my only family car, I would not have to pay this), 2 MADD/SADD classes to hear all their sob stories mostly by those that looked as if they didn't have two nickles to rub together spouting on about how their friend or relative would have been the next Ghandi, Einstein, or President. A couple weekly meetings like traffic school which total up to 12 hours. You have to pay for a temp license then reinstatement of your real license. You are on probation for 1 year. You also have 50 hours community service which you can buy back at $10 a hour. I just paid it.
The craziest story in the class I was in was an attorney from NY that was washing his car while drinking. Since he had his keys on him he was considered as a DUI. In NY his vehicle was impounded permanently. It was a new corvette at the time which he owned free and clear. He states the police had been harrassing him due to defending a case against one of them. He took it on himself to fight the whole system behind it all, he had about $250k of his money into it at the time I spoke to him. There were many others arrested for sleeping in their cars or just coming out from a party to retrieve something from the trunk or glovebox (usually cigarettes / lighters got most people in trouble).
For all these meetings you are required to go, you need to find a ride. Their favorite thing to do is arrest people driving themselves to these classes as even with the work permits, these do not count as work functions.
Quit trying to psychoanalyze the law. It exists, and for good reason. It's unfortunate that the conviction rate is so low, and the penalties aren't stiffer.
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