What Does OUI Mean?

In Maine, OUI means Operating Under the Influence, and that’s a motor vehicle. We’re not talking about watercraft, which is a separate statute and separate title. OUI refers to operating a motor vehicle.

Operating Under the Influence means that your abilities are impaired to any degree, however slightly, by alcohol or drugs, and drugs in Maine are defined as prescription medications, illegal drugs, or any other chemical that’s foreign to the body. So technically, if you’ve been painting indoors all day and now you find yourself a little bit light-headed and dizzy, and you get behind your vehicle, that could be considered impairment. If you took your prescription medication, such as Zoloft, and you had a half a glass of wine with it, even if you’re not even a .02, that could be impairment. Much of this depends on how you perform on these field sobriety tests. So OUI in Maine is very broadly construed with really tough ramifications, because it is a very tough law.