Thousands of Illinois drivers have DUIs
CHICAGO - Ann Marie Getz had already been convicted of driving under the influence twice when, behind the wheel of her Lincoln Continental and allegedly drunk, she ran a stop sign this month in central Illinois and smashed into another car.
A mother and two kids in the Chevy Impala that Getz hit died. And yet the 43-year-old Streator woman was able to present a valid Illinois driver's license to investigators.
That someone with Getz's record had a license at all may be disturbing enough in the wake of the deadly crash that killed Amanda Jahn, a 27-year-old violin teacher from Dwight, and her children - 3-year-old Ryan and 11-month-old Kaitlyn.
But data obtained by The Associated Press from the secretary of state's office shows that licensed drivers in Illinois with one or more DUIs is hardly a rarity.
Out of 8.5 million licensed drivers in Illinois, more than 45,000 have one or more DUI convictions. More than 3,800 have two DUIs and more than 2,700 have three, records dating from 1988 to Feb. 2008 indicate.
The data reaffirms conclusions the Daily Herald drew eight years ago in an investigative series titled "Driving Drunk Again and Again," published in 2000. For that report, the paper examined the driving records of people who received more than one drunken driving conviction or court action in Illinois from 1996 to 1999.
The paper found that nearly 5,400 had been convicted of driving drunk two or more times during the period, and 160 of those had been convicted at least five times.
In Illinois, a driver's license is automatically revoked for life with a fourth DUI conviction, so Getz, now jailed in Grundy County on aggravated DUI charges in the Nov. 6 crash, could be eligible to get her license back at some point even if convicted and sentenced to the maximum 28 years in prison.
Some victims advocates say Illinois' rules on revoking licenses aren't tough enough.
Kim Scerine is a community activist who attended the Jahns' funeral service, where Amanda Jahn's husband, Josh Jahn, spoke tearfully about dancing with his little daughter at a reception a week before she died.
"I got to dance with Cinderella," Jahn, a firefighter for the Dwight Fire Department, said at the service.
A lifelong driving ban should kick in with a second DUI, Scerine suggested.
"If you choose to drink and drive, you shouldn't get latitude," she said. "Do you get latitude if you pick up a gun and shoot someone in the head? No, you don't."
Getz pleaded guilty to DUI in 2001 and was convicted again in 2002; on the second conviction, she was sentenced to 60 days in jail and her license was revoked for three years, said Grundy County State's Attorney Sheldon Sobol. Getz also had multiple other traffic violations dating back nearly 20 years, according to Grundy County records.
"It wasn't like she had a wine or two one night in her life, got a DUI but didn't have anything else on her driving record," Scerine said. "She had a pattern that started 20 years ago and ended when she killed three people."
Getz was taken to jail after spending more than a week in a hospital after the crash. She's being held on $1 million bail and is due in court again on Dec. 4.
A telephone number for an Ann Marie Getz in Streator was disconnected. And the Grundy County sheriff's office said they didn't know whether Getz has an attorney.
Illinois has a good record compared to other states of cracking down on drunken drivers, state officials say, noting that alcohol-related traffic deaths have fallen over the decades to 434 in 2007 from 879 in 1982, a 50 percent decline.
And on Jan. 1, a new Illinois law takes effect that will further tighten DUI sanctions, including by mandating the use of breath-test devices, called interlocks, that prevent drivers who've been drinking from starting their engines. It requires their use for limited periods by anyone with a DUI, even after a first conviction.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving says interlocks can decrease the chances of a driver getting another DUI by more than 50 percent. Just eight states, including Illinois, have laws mandating or encouraging their use, according to MADD.
MADD's Illinois chapter is not among those calling for a reduction in the number of DUIs drivers can receive before losing their driving privileges for life.
"I think the laws we have on the books in Illinois now, if they're enforced, we're in fairly good shape," said the director of MADD in Illinois, Susan McKeigue.
And she added that while figures showing thousands of licensed drivers with DUIs are "worrying," they shouldn't detract from another fact: Drivers with no previous DUI convictions cause two-thirds of alcohol-related fatalities.
Not having a license also doesn't mean someone won't drive.
About 400,000 people around the country have five or more convictions for drunken driving, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration figures released this year. In Illinois, more than 5,500 have five or more convictions and 123 have 10 or more. The most DUI convictions by a single person in Illinois is 22, according to the federal data.
Josh Jahn, who would have celebrated his eighth wedding anniversary on Dec. 3, told reporters after the funeral service that he would like to see tougher DUI laws in Illinois.
"They might still be here," he said about his family, "if there were stronger conviction laws."