According to the Illinois Secretary of State, there were 330 people killed in alcohol-related car crashes in Illinois last year. Those fatalities represented about 30 percent of the 1,090 people who were killed in all car crashes in the state in 2017. Because alcohol plays such a large role in traffic deaths, punishments are substantial.

Most who experience a DUI conviction have no idea just how much it costs, in addition to the loss of driving privileges. Here are eight hidden expenses that come with an Illinois DUI conviction:

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Naperville City Councilmen recently voted to forbid neighborhood bars from offering major beer discounts as a response to an alleged drunk driving crash and a downtown street fight video gone viral. These regulations were proposed in an effort to combat irresponsible drinking that can result in serious drunk driving accidents and anger problems among patrons. According to the Chicago Tribune, the new regulations will also require bar security guards to undergo additional training to work with intoxicated patrons and to help prevent similar issues in the future.

While skeptics of the proposed law anticipated that the public would not allow the Naperville council to pass such restrictive regulations, there has been no public outcry. The new rules specifically forbid bars from reducing the price of a drink more than 50 percent. The public—primarily bar owners and managers—have, however, "taken issue with proposals to limit maximum beer sizes to 20 ounces … and barring patrons from entering a bar an hour before closing."

Most drunk driving accidents occur when a bar patron leaves intoxicated and drives home. Illinois has dram shop laws that forbid a bar from serving an intoxicated person, but these are rarely enforced. According to the National Council of State Legislatures, however, any person who is injured by a drunk driver who was served while visibly intoxicated has a "right of action" against the drunk driver. The trick is to be able to present the correct evidence to prove this in court.

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Drinking and driving is widely understood to be a dangerous and possibly life-ending activity. And throughout the past decades several national and statewide practices have been enacted with the aim of curbing drunk driving and fatalities caused by it. For motorcyclists, however, the message can often get lost in the context of the subculture of motorcycles, at least according to Motorcycle.com. Motorcycle.com notes how the subculture that surrounds riding often involves drinking, and the incentive to stop drinking and riding has "done anything but gone away."

Massive riding festivals encourage pit stops for drinking at local bars, and cyclist bar hopping is a common activity anywhere in the country. Some motorcycle clubs have, of course, stepped up and spoken against this practice, issuing rules that riders cannot drink until the bike is parked for the evening. Regardless, drinking and riding is a serious issue that continues to cost the lives of many cyclists. More than 45 percent of all riders killed in accidents, repots Motorcycle.com using statistics from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, "have alcohol in their system at the time of death."

But there is more. Cyclists killed in accidents are 2.5 times more likely than passenger vehicle drivers to have alcohol in their system—a fact that is indicative of the sometimes dangerously permissive air that surrounds motorcycle culture. Despite increased awareness of the problem, it does not seem to be getting better. While the number of drivers involved in a fatal crash with a BAC of .08 or higher decreased six percent in 2007, the number of motorcyclists with a BAC of .08 or higher actually increased by 10 percent.

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Cherise Wardlow, 39, was charged with "aggravated driving under the influence involving a death and a count of misdemeanor DUI," after an early April incident in Aurora, reports the Chicago Tribune. Wardlow, of Montgomery, tested positive for marijuana after hitting and killing a homeless pedestrian at about 4am on a February night. "She told police she heard a loud thump and immediately stopped and discovered she had hit the pedestrian," states the Tribune. The man, Donald L. Early, 54, was pronounced dead at the scene. A warrant was issued for Wardlow’s arrest, but the next day, reports the Tribune, she turned herself in and posted the $7,500 bond.

Driving after smoking marijuana is as common as driving while impaired from alcohol. According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD), more than 11 percent of all drivers on the road during the weekend or nighttime tested positive for illegal drugs. "Even more concerning," the NCADD reports, is that a different study "found that 1 in 12 high school seniors reported driving after smoking marijuana."

While nearly 4,000 fatally injured drivers tested positive for illegal drugs in 2009, there is no blood test that can be definitively administered the way there is for alcohol. To combat this, many states—including Illinois—follow so-called per-se laws, which state that any amount of cannabis in one’s system when behind the wheel is a punishable offense, even if he or she has not smoked in days.

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The results of a new study indicate that artificial sweeteners, like those found in diet sodas, increase people’s blood alcohol concentrations.

The study was conducted by Dr. Cecile A. Marczinski and lab assistant Amy L. Stamates at the Northern Kentucky University. The results were published in the medical journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research. There were eight men and eight women, between the ages of 21 and 33 years old, that participated in the study. People who were infrequent drinkers were not included in the study. Also excluded were people with diabetes, psychiatric disorders, head trauma or any other injuries to the central nervous system, or anyone who has substance abuse problems. Participants came to three different sessions where they were given random drinks and then had their blood alcohol content measured. The drinks the study subjects were given were either vodka and Squirt soda, vodka and Diet Squirt soda, or vodka and a placebo drink. The drinks contained 1.97 ml/kg vodka mixed with 3.94 ml/kg of the soda or placebo. The vodka used in the drinks was 40 proof. The participants who consumed the drinks with the diet soda had significantly higher blood alcohol content than those that consumed the drinks made with regular soda. Levels measured averaged 18 percent higher. Those people also had greater impairment and slower response times. The conclusion of the study was that diet soda mixed with alcohol will result in higher blood alcohol contents than regular soda mixed with alcohol. The results of the study confirm findings from previous studies done about how diet sodas can affect blood alcohol levels. In 2011, a group of researchers surveyed people who were leaving bars. Participants of the survey shared what and how much they had drank, as well as letting researchers take breath samples. The study’s findings were that those that had consumed alcoholic beverages made with diet soda had higher blood alcohol readings. There are many things that can affect the results of a blood alcohol content test. If you’ve been arrested and charged with DUI, contact an experienced Arlington Heights criminal defense attorney to make sure your rights are protected.