The Vermont Statutes Online

Title 23 : Motor Vehicles

Chapter 013 : Operation of Vehicles

Subchapter 013 : DRUNKEN DRIVING

• § 1204. Permissive inferences

  (a) Upon the trial of any civil or criminal action or proceeding arising out of acts alleged to have been committed by a person while operating, attempting to operate, or in actual physical control of a vehicle on a highway, the person’s alcohol concentration shall give rise to the following permissive inferences:

  (1) If the person’s alcohol concentration at that time was less than 0.08, such fact shall not give rise to any presumption or permissive inference that the person was or was not under the influence of alcohol, but such fact may be considered with other competent evidence in determining whether the person was under the influence of alcohol.

  (2) If the person’s alcohol concentration at that time was 0.08 or more, it shall be a permissive inference that the person was under the influence of alcohol in violation of subdivision 1201(a)(2) or (3) of this title.

  (3) If the person’s alcohol concentration at any time within two hours of the alleged offense was 0.10 or more, it shall be a permissive inference that the person was under the influence of alcohol in violation of subdivision 1201(a)(2) or (3) of this title.

  (b) The foregoing provisions shall not be construed as limiting the introduction of any other competent evidence bearing upon the question whether the person was under the influence of alcohol or under the combined influence of alcohol and another drug nor shall they be construed as requiring that evidence of the amount of alcohol or drug in the person’s blood, breath, urine, or saliva must be presented. (Added 1969, No. 267 (Adj. Sess.), § 4; amended 1973, No. 79, § 4, eff. May 23, 1973; 1981, No. 103, § 5; 1987, No. 244 (Adj. Sess.); 1991, No. 55, § 5; 2017, No. 83, § 161(4); 2019, No. 164 (Adj. Sess.), § 26, eff. Oct. 7, 2020.)