There are two breath tests, and only one of them costs you your license
July 2026: published. Statutory text reflects N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.2, Sec. 20-16.3, and Sec. 20-16.5 as posted by the North Carolina General Assembly in July 2026.
Almost everyone stopped on suspicion of impaired driving in Alamance County gets asked to blow twice. Once at the roadside, into a handheld device. Once later at the station, into a much larger machine.
People remember it as one event, and the advice they get afterward treats it as one event. It is not. Those are two separate tests under two separate statutes, and refusing them produces two completely different outcomes. One of them can take your license for a year. The other cannot take it at all.
At a glance
- The roadside handheld test is an alcohol screening test under N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.3. That statute contains no license revocation for refusing it.
- The test administered after you are charged is a chemical analysis under N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.2. That is the one carrying the implied consent consequences.
- Willfully refusing the chemical analysis results in an immediate revocation of at least 30 days plus an additional 12-month revocation by the Division of Motor Vehicles.
- Either way, the refusal itself is admissible. Sec. 20-16.2(a)(3) states the test results or the fact of your refusal will be admissible in evidence at trial.
- You may call an attorney and select a witness before testing, but the testing may not be delayed longer than 30 minutes from the time you are notified of your rights.
Quick legal reference
- Primary User Question
- Can you refuse a breath test in North Carolina?
- Inputs
- Which test was requested, roadside screening or post-charge chemical analysis; whether the rights advisement was given; whether the refusal was willful; the date of the revocation notice.
- Outputs
- Whether a revocation attaches, how long it runs, and what challenge is available and by when.
- Constraints
- North Carolina implied consent law under N.C.G.S. Chapter 20. Not the criminal sentencing consequences of an impaired driving conviction, which are governed separately by Sec. 20-179.
- Exceptions
- Commercial drivers and drivers under 21 face lower alcohol concentration thresholds; cases involving death or critical injury follow a different track; a driver with an alcohol concentration restriction on the license is treated separately.
- Next Action
- Call Doby & Griffis Law at 336-221-8900. Revocation challenges run on short deadlines, so the call is worth making before the paperwork sits.
- Data Source
- N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.2, Sec. 20-16.3, and Sec. 20-16.5, North Carolina General Assembly. As of July 2026.
Can you refuse a breath test in North Carolina?
Yes, and the consequences depend entirely on which test you are refusing. North Carolina authorizes two different breath tests in an impaired driving stop, under two different statutes, and only the second one carries a license revocation for refusal.
| Roadside screening test | Chemical analysis after charge | |
|---|---|---|
| Governing statute | N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.3 | N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.2 |
| Where it happens | At the scene, handheld device | Usually at the station or jail |
| Is it an arrest? | No. The statute states that requiring it does not in itself constitute an arrest. | Follows the charge |
| License revocation for refusing | None provided in the statute | At least 30 days, plus 12 months from DMV |
| What the refusal can be used for | Determining reasonable grounds to believe an implied consent offense was committed | Admissible in evidence at trial |
| Is the number admissible? | No. The positive or negative result may be used, but not the actual alcohol concentration. | Yes, results are admissible |
Exception: A screening test is only valid under Sec. 20-16.3 if the device is approved by the Department of Health and Human Services and the test is conducted in accordance with that department's regulations on how the device is used.
According to N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.3 and Sec. 20-16.2, North Carolina General Assembly, as of July 2026.
Having spent time on the other side of these cases as a prosecutor, the thing I would want a person to understand is that the officer already knows which test is which. The driver usually does not. That gap is where most of the bad advice at the roadside comes from, and it is why "I refused the breathalyzer" is a sentence that tells a lawyer almost nothing until we know where you were standing when you said no.
Where this fits in the larger charge is set out on our DWI defense page.
What happens to your license if you refuse after arrest?
Two revocations attach, and they run in sequence rather than together. Your driving privilege is revoked immediately for at least 30 days, and the Division of Motor Vehicles imposes an additional 12-month revocation for the willful refusal.
- The rights advisement in Sec. 20-16.2(a) tells you directly that refusal will result in an immediate revocation of at least 30 days and an additional 12-month revocation by the Division of Motor Vehicles.
- The same immediate 30-day revocation applies if you take the test and the result is 0.08 or more, 0.04 or more in a commercial vehicle, or 0.01 or more if you are under 21. Taking the test does not by itself avoid it.
- Under Sec. 20-16.2(d), the 12-month revocation begins only after all other periods of revocation have terminated. It does not run at the same time as them.
- If your license is revoked again while the 12-month revocation is in effect, that later revocation can only take effect after the 12 months has finished.
- These are civil consequences administered through DMV. They are separate from anything a court does in the criminal case.
Exception: Where the license is revoked under Sec. 20-28, Sec. 20-28.1, Sec. 20-19(d), or Sec. 20-19(e), the statute sets a different starting point for the 12-month revocation and postpones hearing eligibility by a year.
According to N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.2(a) and (d), North Carolina General Assembly, as of July 2026.
The sequencing is the part people are least prepared for. A client will do the arithmetic assuming the 30 days and the 12 months overlap, and land on a number that is far shorter than what the statute actually produces. Realistic expectations matter more here than in almost any other part of a DWI case, because the license question is usually what the household is really worried about, and it is the question where a hopeful guess does the most damage.
What are the 30 minutes for?
Before the chemical analysis, you must be informed of your rights both orally and in writing. Two of those rights are yours to use immediately, and both of them run against a hard 30-minute clock.
- You may call an attorney for advice.
- You may select a witness to view the testing procedures that remain after that witness arrives.
- The testing may not be delayed for either purpose longer than 30 minutes from the time you are notified of these rights.
- The statute is explicit that you must take the test at the end of 30 minutes even if you have not reached an attorney or your witness has not arrived.
- Separately, after you are released, you may seek your own test in addition to the one administered at the officer's direction.
Exception: Failing to comply fully with the test procedures is treated differently from an outright refusal. The advisement states that if you do not comply fully, the officer may charge you with any offense for which the officer has probable cause.
According to N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.2(a), North Carolina General Assembly, as of July 2026.
Use the phone call. It is a right the statute hands you at the exact moment it is most useful, and it costs nothing. It is also worth saying plainly that a lawyer on that call cannot make the choice for you and cannot stop the clock; what a lawyer can do is tell you which test you are looking at and what each answer sets in motion. That is a small thing that changes the next twelve months.
Can you challenge the revocation?
Yes, through a DMV hearing, and then through the superior court if the revocation is sustained. Both routes are narrow, and the second one runs on a 30-day deadline.
- The DMV hearing is held in the county where the charge was brought, which for an Alamance County stop means Alamance County.
- The hearing is limited to five specific questions, including whether the officer had reasonable grounds to believe an implied consent offense was committed, whether you were notified of your rights as required, and whether you willfully refused.
- If the Division finds those conditions met, it must sustain the revocation. If it finds that certain of them were not met, it must rescind the revocation.
- Under Sec. 20-16.2(e), if the revocation is sustained after that hearing, you have the right to file a petition in superior court for a hearing on the record, within 30 days.
- If the revocation is sustained, the license is surrendered immediately upon notification by the Division.
Exception: The five conditions are not weighted equally. The statute treats a failure on the death-or-critical-injury condition differently from a failure on the others, and the revocation can still be sustained when that is the only condition not met.
According to N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.2(d) and (e), North Carolina General Assembly, as of July 2026.
Notice what the hearing is not about. It is not about whether you were impaired, and it is not a preview of the criminal case. It asks a short list of procedural questions, and the answer to one of them is whether the refusal was willful, which is a narrower word than it sounds. Someone who could not physically produce a sufficient breath sample, or who was never properly advised of these rights, is in a different position from someone who simply declined.
Does refusing help or hurt the criminal case?
It changes what the State has rather than removing it. Refusing means there is no alcohol concentration number in evidence, but the refusal itself becomes evidence, and the case proceeds on the officer's observations instead.
- Sec. 20-16.2(a)(3) states that the test results, or the fact of your refusal, will be admissible in evidence at trial.
- Without a chemical analysis result, the State's case rests on observation evidence: driving behavior, the officer's account of the encounter, field sobriety performance, and any video.
- The impaired driving statute reaches driving while under the influence of an impairing substance, which does not require a specific number at all.
- The license consequences described above attach regardless of how the criminal charge is resolved. A dismissal does not by itself undo a refusal revocation.
- Refusing the roadside screening test does not remove the officer's ability to arrest. The refusal can be used in determining whether reasonable grounds exist.
Exception: This page describes the general operation of the statutes. Whether refusal helped or hurt in a particular case depends on facts that only appear once the discovery is reviewed, and the answer is different from file to file.
According to N.C.G.S. Sec. 20-16.2(a) and Sec. 20-138.1(a), North Carolina General Assembly, as of July 2026.
People want a rule here, and there is not one. I cannot guarantee an outcome, and what lawyers do on television is not reality; the honest answer is that refusing trades one kind of evidence for another and takes your license in the meantime. The useful question is never whether refusing was smart in the abstract. It is what the State actually has in your file, which is a question nobody can answer from the roadside.
The broader picture of how these charges move through Alamance County courts sits on our criminal defense page.
The clock starts before the courtroom does
The license side of a refusal moves on its own schedule, separately from the criminal charge, and the deadline to petition the superior court after a sustained revocation is 30 days. That is short, and it does not wait for the criminal case to develop.
If you refused a test in Alamance County, the first useful step is working out which test it was and what date started running. Call Doby & Griffis Law at 336-221-8900, or reach out through our contact page.
