Paying the price: Drunken driving laws will change

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, July 31, 2002

Motorists who are thinking about driving drunk and already have three or more citations for drunken driving, should watch out because the penalties for repeat offenders are about to get a lot stricter.

The highest penalty for drunk driving under the current Minnesota law is a gross misdemeanor with fines and offenders may have to give up their licenses and vehicles.

If the driver's blood-alcohol level is .2 or higher or if a child is in the vehicle, the person also could be required to take an alcohol assessment or treatment.

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The new law states a person who is convicted for the fourth or more time in 10 years can be charged with a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $14,000 fine.

The offender also will face a mandatory prison sentence of at least three years, which could be reduced with the completion of a chemical dependency treatment program or a work release program.

Mower County Chief Deputy Terese Amazi supports the new legislation because "the more drunk drivers that are off the road, the better," but is skeptical of its effectiveness. "I'm not alone as far as other sheriff's departments are concerned, but usually by the time someone has had their fourth or more drunken driving conviction, if they haven't figured it out by now, I don't know that they will," she says. "I don't know how much effect it will have as a deterrent. What would work, I don't know. It has to be their own will to quit, and I don't know how we could impose that."

At the moment, statistics show repeat drunken drivers continue to drive while impaired. The Department of Public Safety says the number of first-time DWI offenses has decreased some since the mid-80s, but the number of repeat offenders remains constant. Studies also note more people are being caught after license revocation and approximately 35 percent of drivers involved in alcohol-related crashes already have impaired driving incidents on their records.

However, state legislators believe if repeat offenders are threatened with prison time instead of just fines, they will be less like to continue to drive while impaired.

Mower County Attorney Pat Oman says that though he hopes the new penalties will discourage people from driving drunk, he says the "nature of DWIs is that they're lapses in judgement, not malicious intent," so many may not be discouraged.

However, he says the county databases have been updated and Oman says "judges are making a point to tell people if they're getting close," to the limit, but "unfortunately, it looks like we'll be getting quite a few who will be affected."

Amanda L. Rohde can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at :mailto:amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com