Proposed law targets repeat DUI offendersBy Dennis Welch, Tribune Following
a trail blazed by 23 other states, an Arizona lawmaker is taking
action to lower the legal blood alcohol limit for those who repeatedly
drink and drive. Waring said repeat offenders are a lethal problem for a state that still sees more than 400 deaths related to drunken driving each year. "These are the people that need to be regulated. These are the people that are going to kill somebody," Waring said last week. If passed, Arizona would become the 24th state in the country to enact a similar law, according to national statistics. Waring’s bill also has no tolerance for anyone convicted of an extreme DUI — which is someone convicted of driving with a blood alcohol level above 0.15. According to the bill, anyone with the smallest trace of alcohol — meaning anything above 0.00 — could be arrested on suspicion of DUI if pulled over within five years of an extreme DUI conviction. Chuck Heeman, the state executive director for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said these types of laws have been highly effective in other parts of the country. In the late 1980s, Maine became the first state to lower the blood alcohol limit for those with prior DUI convictions. In the first year, Heeman said, the state saw a drastic drop in crashes related to drunken driving. "I think laws like this are a way for people who have already been caught to think again before getting behind the wheel," Heeman said. |
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Nationally, he said onethird of injuries and deaths caused by drunken drivers are by repeat offenders. In Arizona, there are nearly 2,700 prisoners serving time in state penitentiaries for DUI-related crimes. Of those, 90 percent have more than one DUI conviction, according to the Arizona Department of Corrections. Despite the numbers, there are those who believe the state’s DUI laws are going too far. "Those that socially drink and are not a problem are being put upon pretty hard by the continual reduction of (blood alcohol level)," said Bill Weigele, president of the Arizona Licensed Beverage Association. Although he does not condone drinking and driving, he said lawmakers are given too much discretion in determining when a driver is drunk. "This arbitrary line being drawn is getting out of hand. There is absolutely no reason to think the average person will be impaired at 0.05," he said. Still, others said politics drives lawmakers to enact tougher DUI laws. Melanie Beauchamp, an Ahwatukee Foothills attorney specializing in DUI cases, said this is a good issue for politicians to seize upon because it’s hard to oppose. "This is a great ticket for politicians because everyone hates drunk drivers," she said. However,
Beauchamp said laws don’t stop people from drinking and driving.
If state lawmakers were serious about reducing the number of Beauchamp said she teaches classes at various Valley high schools about the dangers of drinking and driving. And she is convinced that there would be fewer drunken drivers on the city streets if the public were better informed. "Tougher punishment will never make a difference because alcohol takes away their judgment," she said. Currently, repeat offenders already face steeper fines and jail time. For a first-time conviction, drivers face fines of $950 for a misdemeanor and $1,700 for an extreme DUI. However, those costs don’t include legal fees and other costs related to the legal process. On a second conviction, the fines are raised by $1,250. This information is courtesy of http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/ |
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