A new report from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) indicates that a shift in DUI sentencing may significantly reduce the risk posed by drunk drivers. Drunk driving resulted in almost 12,500 car accidents in 2010, and claimed the lives of over 10,000 people, which amounts to about one every 51 minutes. Although the number of alcohol related accidents declined approximately five percent in 2010, they still account for about a third of all traffic related fatalities. While some alcohol related accidents are caused by those that rarely drink and drive, habitual drinkers continue to pose a serious risk to passenger vehicle drivers, passengers, motorcyclists, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
One reason that habitual drunk drivers continue to claim the lives of so many accident victims is that current DUI penalties often are ineffective at keeping drunk drivers off the roads. Data from the National Transportation Safety Board indicates that repeat DUI offenders are responsible for seventy percent of all alcohol related traffic fatalities. It has also been estimated that the average drunk driver operates a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol almost 90 times before they are arrested for DUI. The ability of drunk drivers to avoid detection on many occasions while under the influence significantly undermines any deterrent effect of DUI sentencing.
The lack of effectiveness of DUI punishment is reflected by the fact that 50-75 percent of those convicted of drunk driving continue to drive on a suspended license. Because many drunk drivers are able to drive over and over without being arrested and display a willingness to continue to drive even after their driver’s license has been suspended, innocent motorists are put at risk of severe injury and wrongful death.
There are some proposed solutions that may pose a more effective way to prevent DUI collisions involving alcohol addicted drivers. One promising approach that has been suggested involves making installation of an ignition interlock device mandatory upon a first DUI conviction. A study conducted by researchers in Washington and reported on the IIHS website indicated that when the requirement of installing ignition interlock devices was made mandatory for all DUI offenders as opposed to just repeat offenders, the DUI recidivism rate fell by twelve percent. The researchers also noted that only about a third of the drivers convicted complied with the requirement to have the device installed, the study’s authors concluded that the DUI rate would have dropped by nearly half with monitoring and enforcement efforts to ensure the device was installed.
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If you were injured in a collision with a drunk driver and need a San Francisco auto accident attorney, contact The Law Office of Ian Zimmerman for your free initial consultation. We are open 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., speak Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, and are available for weekend, evening, home and hospital meetings and visits. We also offer free initial consultations and work exclusively on a contingency fee basis, so that you pay nothing if we don’t win your case.
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