driving while intoxicated legal definition

The criminal law offense of operating a vehicle after having drunk an amount of alcohol sufficient to raise one’s blood alcohol content above a legal limit, commonly referred to by the acronym DWI. Also known as driving under the influence (DUI), which, in some jurisdictions means that the driver had a lower level of intoxication than DWI, but was still impaired.  In some jurisdictions, the term driving while impaired is used.