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Driving Safety: OWI'm in trouble...

By Megan Roth

Four thousand four hundred and thirty five dollars. No, that’s not my monthly rent (although it is close). Instead, it’s the typical total of charges incurred for one’s first OWI (according to the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division).

Doesn’t phase you? What if I told you it’s also accompanied by a 48-hour sting in jail. And that’s only the first offense (many offenders do so in numbers). The second offense

Still not enough to deter you from driving drunk? Then you’re just one among thousands who aren’t convinced it’s necessary to hand over the keys when you’re handed a cocktail. In 2005 alone, a portion of those thousands of (16, 885 to be exact) resulted in alcohol-related fatalities.

We’ve all been affected by such fatalities at some point; it’s a tragedy, really – and I can’t help but wonder how many times such incidents have to occur before offenders really learn a lesson?

I have a former classmate who, at just 23-years old, has had four OWIs. Really – four OWIs (Mom & Dad must be proud). What’s worse is the fact that he received three of the four within the last 3-months.

So why wasn’t his license revoked after the second offense? FOUR OWIs – I’d say that justifies more than just revoking a license – I’d be down with banning him from driving for the rest of his life…

Evidently, his license has been removed but, due to legalities of some sort or another, this didn’t take effect immediately. Similarly, he’s facing jail time at least the third and fourth offense; however, he’s free to roam until his cases work their way through the courts (which could be months, even years if things go his way…) Now don’t get me wrong – he’s not a bad guy. Yes, he consistently makes poor choices and yes, he most often puts himself before others; however, he isn’t cruel and he doesn’t set out with the intention of intentionally harming others.

And most offenders don’t. In fact, most individuals who are cited for an OWI are no different than you and me. I’ve always said it’s more of a time and place situation; however, I’ll also say that the situation wouldn’t even exist if you didn’t put yourself there.

Take Wisconsin’s 2000 report of drunk driving arrests; during 2000 alone, 38, 324 people were arrested for OWI in Wisconsin alone. Of those, ten percent were under age 21 (655 were actually under the age of 18). Wow – that’s interesting…here’s something else that might grab your attention: A 2001 driver record file snapshot showed:

· 234,826 Wisconsin drivers had 1 OWI conviction

· 34,436 had 2

· 16,708 drivers had 3 convictions

· 5,250 had 4

· 1,666 had been convicted for OWI 5 times

· 557 had 6

· 205 hit 7 convictions

· 63 pushed 8

· 27 hauled in 9

· 11 hit 10

· 7 had 11

· 1 had 12

· and that same 1 maxed out at 13 OWI convictions

Well, I suppose that explains why Wisconsin saw 366 drunk-driving related fatalities that year. But how did these numbers even reach this point? And why was an individual allowed to make it to 13 OWIs. Shoot, how did over 34,000 even make it to two convictions?! Shouldn’t we be taking a proactive approach to preventing drinking and driving? Wouldn’t this make more sense than simply saying “if you drink and drive it’s punishable by law.”? Quite obviously, making those threats isn’t working – they need to be enforced.

Now I don’t mean to rip on Wisconsin (it just happens to be an easy target); in reality, this is an issue across the board. So just how bad is it? Are you sure you wanna know?!

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Megan Roth

Full post as published by Des Moines Personal Injury Lawyer on February 10, 2009 (boomark / email).