What can be done to stop repeat drunken drivers?
Experts say efforts can be made in the areas of jail time, licensing and vehicle sanctions and in confronting alcohol addiction.
But for every proposed solution, there are debates about fairness and effectiveness.
Expert advice
Ideas experts have on how to curtail repeat drunken drivers.
Do not allow judges to dispose of drunk driving violations with court supervision.
Double the penalty for refusing to take a breathalyzer to a one-year license suspension. Suspend for six months the licenses of people who refuse to take field sobriety tests.
Impound cars, or disable them with a Denver boot-type device.
Require repeat offenders' vehicles to bear special plates.
Do not allow repeat offenders to buy license plates or new vehicles, nor should they be allowed to pick up their towed cars the same day they are arrested for DUI.
Require a device be installed for a specified time period on the ignition of vehicles that requires a driver to pass a breathalyzer test before a vehicle will start.
Lengthen jail time for DUI convictions.
Create some jail space to devote to "periodic imprisonment." That concept calls for allowing DUI offenders to go to work during the day, but to go to jail at night.
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For example, DUI defense lawyer Stephen M. Komie believes judges should
have the authority to send chronic offenders to in-patient alcohol rehab
programs, but two of the chronic DUI offenders the Daily Herald has
studied emphasized alcohol abuse counseling only works when the abuser
wants it to succeed.
Members of Congress attempted to deal with repeat DUI offenders in 1998
when they approved a law requiring states to change drunken driving laws
by Oct. 1, 2000, or risk having federal highway construction funds
diverted to safety programs.
Under the congressional mandate, states must require the following for
those convicted of two or more drunken driving charges:
- suspension of a driver's license for at least one year;
- impoundment of vehicles for a time within the license suspension period, or the installation of an ignition Breathalyzer device after the suspension;
- assessment of the level of alcohol abuse and treatment referrals;
- establishment of a mandatory minimum sentence of five days of jail time or 30 days of community service for the second offense, or 10 days of jail time or 60 days of community service for third or subsequent offenses.
For the purposes of that program, repeat offenders are defined as anyone
with more than one drunken driving conviction in any five-year period.
In Illinois, driving privileges are taken away for at least a year after a
first DUI conviction, but offenders are able to apply for a restricted
driving permit from the secretary of state's office. Judicial driving
permits also are an option some offenders receive.
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said he is evaluating a variety of
proposed solutions, including increasing license revocation lengths,
vehicle seizures and immobilizations, jail time and fines.
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| Charlene Chpman, executive director of Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists.
Daily Herald Photo/Loe Lewnard
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Charlene Chapman, executive director of the Alliance Against Intoxicated
Motorists, believes judges should not be allowed to dispose of drunken
driving violations with court supervision.
License sanctions also should be lengthened, she said. Federal
transportation officials say studies have shown license sanctions do stop
some repeat offenders from driving or cause them to drive more carefully.
Chapman also believes the penalty for refusing to take a Breathalyzer
should be doubled to one year, and people who refuse to take field
sobriety tests should lose their licenses for six months. Currently, there
is no penalty for refusing a field sobriety test.
Vehicles now may be seized from drunken drivers caught without a valid
license, but pursuing that option is left up to prosecutors and judges.
Marti Belluschi, the secretary of state's DUI prevention adviser, said she
does not believe seizures occur often in Illinois.
Impounding cars, or disabling them with a Denver boot-type device, often
is not popular because legislators and law enforcement officials recognize
cars have several owners and users. Also, storage of seized cars has
become a problem in other states that have pursued that sanction
aggressively, Belluschi said.
But a federal report on repeat drunken drivers said vehicle impoundment
efforts in California have resulted in fewer DUI arrests, convictions and
crashes.
However, Susan McKay, the ex-wife of nine-time DUI offender Patrick
Kolman, believes cars should be confiscated. "Anybody living with somebody
like this is going to be working full time and using their own car," she
said. "Today, most people have two cars."
Further, she said, repeat offenders should not be allowed to buy license
plates or new vehicles, nor should they be allowed to pick up their towed
cars the same day they are arrested for DUI.
Some legislators and anti-drunken driving activists as an alternative
suggest requiring repeat offenders' vehicles bear special plates, but that
still stigmatizes family members or others who might use the vehicle.
Some judges have required a device to be installed for a specified period
on the ignition of vehicles that requires a driver to pass a Breathalyzer
test before a vehicle will start.
A study of the use of that device in Maryland found a decrease in DUI
recidivism of 65 percent among those with an ignition Breathalyzer.
But there also are anecdotes of chronic DUI offenders persuading their
children or friends to take the test for them.
Activists say the so-called "ignition interlock" devices have been
improved recently so that drivers are repeatedly required to take a
Breathalyzer as they drive. The reason for the repeat testing is to
prevent the possibility that a drunken driver could get someone to start
the car for them and then drive off themselves.
Brad Fralick, executive director of the Illinois chapter of Mothers
Against Drunk Driving, believes expanding the use of ignition interlock
devices should be a top priority.
Another solution that is not aimed directly at repeat drunken drivers
would be to allow police to stop drivers for not wearing their seat belts,
Fralick said. In most Illinois communities, police can write a ticket for
violating seat belt laws only after stopping the driver for another
reason. "Primary enforcement of the seat belt law would do the most to
save lives," he said.
White agreed. "Your safety belt is your best defense against a drunk
driver," he said.
Some activists and others who have encountered chronic drunken drivers
also strongly believe jail time must be lengthened.
"They will lock somebody up for selling drugs for 15 years," McKay said,
noting perhaps the longest time her repeat offender ex-husband ever served
was 15 months.
Chapman agrees, but she acknowledges there isn't enough prison space or
the political will to mandate long jail terms. As an alternative, she
thinks Illinois also should implement an intensive probation program
similar to those that have trimmed recidivism in Milwaukee and Prince
Georges County, Maryland.
Chapman said offenders in intensive probation should be required to report
to probation officers more frequently. They should submit to random drug
and alcohol testing, show proof of attendance at alcohol treatment
programs and complete drunk-driving related community service.
"There's a segment of our society addicted to alcohol, and they (judges)
need to single these people out," she said. "We can't fix them, so we'll
sanction them more."
Patrick McGann, the supervising judge of the Chicago Traffic Center since
1996, said he would like to find a way to create some jail space to devote
to "periodic imprisonment." That concept calls for allowing DUI offenders
to go to work during the day and jail at night.
"Lots of these people have addiction issues," he said. "We could control
their movements."
But McGann and others who have studied the problem of repeat drunken
drivers agree there is no single, workable solution.
"There's also some people who this won't work for," he said. "They just
need to be locked up sometimes."
