Tag Archives: DUI

NJ Receives Millions in Federal Grants to Prevent DUI

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New Jersey will receive millions in federal grants to combat drunken driving and increase safety on the roads.

Nearly $5 million in funding is being awarded from four U.S. Department of Transportation grants.

The funds are being distributed through the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, and the allocation of the funds includes:

  • $2,960,000 for drunk driving efforts;
  • $1,260,349 for highway safety programs, including reducing drunk driving and distracted driving, increasing seat belt use and improving pedestrian safety;
  • $486,751 to improve traffic flow monitoring systems;
  • $266,580 to enforce child seat belt laws

Senator Lautenberg, a member of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the Department of Transportation, has said, “Traffic deaths on our highways are a tragedy and we will continue to fight for funding that will keep New Jerseyans safe.”

Hunterdon County was the recipient of a four-year, $200,000 grant provided by the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act. The grant money is hoped to change the environmental influences which can lead to teenage drinking.

Reinstating Drivers License More Difficult for Repeat DWI Offenders in New York

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New York officials proposed new regulations that will prevent chronic drunk driving offenders from re-licensing. The Department of Motor Vehicles will review the lifetime records of drivers who are seeking reinstatement of their license after a conviction. They will deny anyone who has five or more alcohol or drug related driving convictions or incidents on their record. The new regulations also define dangerous repeat alcohol or drug offenders as one who has three or four alcohol or drug related driving convictions or incidents in the previous 25 years in addition to one other serious driving offense. A serious driving offense includes a fatal crash, a driving-related penal law conviction, an accumulation of 20 or more points on the driving record in the past 25 years, or having two or more driving convictions worth five points or higher. If these factors are met, then any application will be denied for reinstatement.
If a driver has three or four alcohol or drug related convictions and they do not have a serious conviction on their record in the last 25 years, then the DMV will deny their application for license reinstatement for five years.
DMV Commissioner Barbara Fiala said, “Each year, more than 300 people are killed and more than 6,000 injured on New York highways as a direct result of alcohol-related crashes. More than 25 percent of those crashes involved a driver who had three or more drunk driving convictions.” In New York, drivers whose licenses had been suspended for drunk driving could reinstate their driving privileges only 6 months to 1 year after completing a 7 month education program. New York’s law allowed even multiple alcohol or drug related driving offenders to keep their licenses after a period of revocation. The new regulations will no longer allow this. The advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving have commented on the Cuomo administration’s crack down on repeat offenders, saying that they believe the administration has not gone far enough to toughen laws for first and second time offenders. New York’s new driver’s license regulations will require:
  • The DMV to review the lifetime record of all drivers who are applying to have their license reinstated after revocation.
  • The DMV to deny applications for reinstatement of a license after revocation if the driver has five or more alcohol or drug related driving convictions in their lifetime, or if they have 3 or more alcohol or drug related driving convictions in the past 25 years in addition to another serious driving offense during the last 25 years. Serious driving offenses include causing a fatal crash, driving-related penal law convictions, or accruing 20 or more points for driving violations within the last 25 years.
  • Those whose licenses have been revoked due to an alcohol-related offense will be required to use an interlock device on their vehicle for five years.

Harsher Penalties for DUI in New Jersey

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New legislation was sponsored by Charles Mainor, the Assembly Law and Public Safety Chairman, to increase penalties for drunk driving with a minor in the motor vehicle. Mainor (D-Hudson) said, “Driving drunk is irresponsible in any circumstance, but it’s even more offensive to do so with a child in the vehicle.”A parent or guardian convicted of drunk driving with a minor in the vehicle would be charged with a disorderly persons offense under current law. “A disorderly persons offense is not enough for driving drunk with a minor. We need to send a much stronger message that we find such dangerous behavior completely unacceptable,” Mainor said.A disorderly persons offense can be punished with 6 months imprisonment and a fine up to $1,000.Most states have statutes which enhance penalties for drunk driving with a minor in the vehicle, these statutes are usually known as DUI Child Endangerment. States without these enhanced penalties include Alaska, Connecticut, Indiana, Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Vermont. In four states, New York, Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas, it is a felony to drive drunk with a child passenger in a vehicle. New Jersey’s bill A-1015 is currently in its second reading. A person convicted of drunk driving with a minor would still be guilty of a disorderly persons offense but they would be guilty of a crime under the fourth degree if the minor suffered bodily injury. Fourth degree crimes are punishable by up to 18 months imprisonment and/or a fine up to $10,000. If the minor suffered serious bodily injury then the offender would be guilty of a crime in the third degree, which is punishable with up to five years imprisonment and up to $15,000 in fines.

Wyoming May Adopt 24/7 Sobriety Program

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No Alcohol, SobrietyWyoming is considering adopting a sobriety program for repeat drunk-drivers. Those accused of drunk driving could avoid jail time by staying sober. The 24/7 Sobriety Program is being discussed by state officials who are trying to decide if the program is the right fit. Repeat offenders would need to submit to twice-a-day breathalyzer tests while they await trial instead of going to jail.If a test is failed then they would be immediately taken into custody and their bond would be revoked. State Legislators Gov. Matt Mead and Attorney General Greg Phillips along with the Governor’s Council on Impaired Driving have been discussing the 24/7 Sobriety Program as an alternative to jail time.

Breath Tests to Resume in DC

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D.C. is resuming breath testingfor suspected drunk drivers, ending a 19-month suspension of the program. In 2010, the District admitted that nearly 400 people were convicted with drunk driving based on inaccurate results from breath machines. Half of those convicted went to jail.$20,000 was paid to four people who challenged their cases in May. D.C. claimed to have reached deals in order to save time and continued litigation. Nearly 30 people filed lawsuits against the District who were charged with DWI.While the suspension of breath testing was on hiatus, the city continued to use field sobriety tests and urine screens for evidence of drivers’ intoxication levels, allowing the police to arrest hundreds of drivers.

The Breath Alcohol Testing Program will now require a trained Metropolitan Police Department operator to administer the tests. Mayor Vince Gray said that a grant for $150,000 from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration helped reinstate the program.

The chief medical examiner’s office is now in charge of ensuring that the breath machines are working accurately through calibration and auditing.

The Comprehensive Impaired Driving Act of 2012 began Aug. 1, and under the law tougher penalties are imposed on first-time offenders, and more severe penalties are being given to repeat offenders.

DUI Hotel for Eligible Drunk Driving Offenders

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DUI HotelAn Allegheny County program allows drunk drivers to serve mandatory jail time in a hotel if they meet certain requirements. Known to some as “DUI Hotel“, the DUI Alternative Jail Program is essentially a 3-day, 3-night program held at two participating hotels, and costs about $500. It is for people who have a prior conviction and then get arrested for DUI, and who are ineligible for Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition.In the program, participants are required to attend evaluations and alcohol-education programs and treatment sessions. Tom McCaffrey is the director of adult probation in Allegheny County and supports the program. He said, “The program goes Thursday through Sunday. The entire program is designed that they are busy the whole time. They complete alcohol evaluations, they do their mandatory DUI school mandated by PennDOT and they do their treatment that they have to do. I think it’s going to be a good thing for the court, I think it will be a good thing for the jail, and it will be a good thing for the taxpayers.”

DUI Hotel can replace the system of using electronic monitoring bracelets, which county officials report costs $2 million a year in taxpayer dollars. However, not everyone is behind the program. George Saurman is a former seven-term state representative from Montgomery County who said, “The whole idea of sentencing people to jail is for safety — for their own safety and for other people’s safety. For anyone to have the idea that now that they’ve been caught, they can serve out their time in a hotel, rather than having the punishment imposed, is absolutely insane. I can’t see any motivation or justification for modifying the penalty. It’s inexcusable, as far as I’m concerned.”

The program was adopted in 2010, and Allegheny was the first county in Pennsylvania to use it. Now Westmoreland County officials are considering it too.

Anna Duerr, a spokeswoman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), said that the program would not act as a deterrent to driving while intoxicated. “There is no science to show that sentencing convicted drunk drivers to serve time in a hotel helps to stop repeat offenses,” she said.

Colorado Lawmakers Revisiting Bill for Marijuana DUI Standard

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Colorado lawmakers will revisit a bill calling for a marijuana DUI standard for a fourth time in January 2013. A marijuana DUI standard would establish a blood-level limit for drivers, meaning motorists could be charged with driving under the influence if their blood contains a certain level of THC. This bill is being sponsored again by Mesa County Republican Senator Keith King, and the bill proposes that the limit should be 5 nanograms of THC per milliliter of blood.This bill was rejected in May when lawmakers could not agree on how to properly measure a motorist’s intoxication by marijuana and what was deemed as too impaired to drive. Nevada and Ohio have a 2 nanogram of THC ng/mL limit and Pennsylvania has a 1-nanogram limit. A motorist can be charged with drugged-driving in Colorado but the evidence is based on law enforcement’s observations.

Opponents of the marijuana DUI standard have doubts that impairment by marijuana and impairment by alcohol can by measured similarly. It is understood that the effects of cannabis on psycho-motor abilities is correlated to dosage, however lawmakers cannot agree on how to appropriately measure impairment due to issues relating to residual neuropyschological effects.

Colorado is one of 16 states that allows medical use of marijuana, and on November 6, 2012, Colorado Amendment 64 will be on the ballots, which is an amendment to Article 18 of the state constitution that would allow for a progressive marijuana drug policy. Essentially, personal use and regulation of marijuana would be allowed for adults over the age of 21 if Amendment 64 is passed.

Opponents of the THC-limit worry that medical marijuana users may be wrongly accused if the bill is passed. “We risk convicting people of an impaired infraction when they’re not actually impaired,” said Michael Elliott, executive director of the Medical Marijuana Industry Group. Another possible concern could be detection of cannabinoids even if one is not an active user of marijuana. In the Journal of Forensic Science, a study by Morland et al. (1985) shows that passive inhalation of cannabis smoke can be detected in blood and urine, with THC concentrations being detected as high as 6.3 ng/mL.

These are issues that must be confronted by lawmakers especially in a state that allows for medical use and may be on its way to legalization of marijuana.