Tuesday, March 02, 1999

How can we stop drunken drivers?

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Five Tristaters killed since Friday

BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Wreckage of two trucks involved in Friday night crash that killed three family members. (Steven M. Herppich photo) | ZOOM |

        About 1 in 10 of Ohio's licensed drivers have been convicted of driving under the influence, and more than a third of those are repeat offenders.

        That's way too many, said Andie Rehkamp, an executive with Mothers Against Drunk Driving's Southwestern Ohio Chapter.

        And with alcohol suspected in automobile collisions that claimed five Tristate lives since Friday, she wants more done to curb drunk drivers.

        “There's not any one thing,” she said.

        Mrs. Rehkamp supports breath-testing equipment on vehicles that prevent them from starting if the driver has been drinking, tougher license suspensions and zero-tolerance laws that make the legal blood alcohol content 0.05 for repeat offenders. The legal limit in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana is 0.10.

        Efforts to curtail repeat DUI offenses in Ohio and Kentucky appear to be concentrating on toughening penalties for highly intoxicated drivers — those who register 0.17 or 0.18 — and three- and four- time offenders.

        A Kentucky law went into effect in July that sentences any person operating a motor vehicle with a 0.18 or more to jail time. The new law was among DUI changes sought by lawmakers during the most recent session of the Kentucky General Assembly, most of which were not successful. A measure to lower the legal limit for drunken driving from 0.10 percent to 0.08 failed.

        In Ohio, state Sen. Bruce Johnson, R-Columbus, has proposed legislation that doubles penalties for drivers who register 0.17 or higher.

        If anything can deter repeat DUI offenders, Mr. Johnson said, it could be longer jail sentences that could force them to lose their jobs.

        “We want to try to raise the stakes,” he said.

        Victim advocates would like to see the legal limit dropped to 0.08 across the country. Sixteen states, most recently Washington, have lowered their rates, and there have been attempts in Congress to force more states to do so. President Clinton said in December he would again try to gain passage of a nationwide 0.08 blood-alcohol standard for drunken driving.

        But a state Senate committee in February rejected legislation that would lower the drunken-driving threshold in Indiana, almost certainly dooming the measure for the ninth consecutive year in the General Assembly.

        An Illinois representative in February proposed a more controversial measure, one that would require the vehicles of multiple DUI offenders to sport orange plates, which some opponents compare to a scarlet letter.

        “I'm not sure there's enough stigma attached to these people driving lethal weapons,” Ill. Rep. Jack Franks told the Chicago Sun-Times.

        This year, New York City began seizing vehicles of repeat DUI offenders.

        Alcohol-related auto fatalities have dropped by more than half in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana since the mid-1980s, and Mrs. Rehkamp of MADD is encouraged.

        “But everything we've done means nothing to the Shannon family right now,” Mrs. Rehkamp said.

        Tammy Shannon, husband Rodney Shannon and son Christopher were killed near their New Richmond home Friday night after their vehicle was struck by one driven by Charles Gumbert, a suspected drunken driver with four DUI convictions.

        As many as 1,300 Ohioans have eight DUIs. But those aren't the state's worst DUI offenders.

        Three Ohio men have been found guilty 18 times. They are Dennis R. Cayse of Hillsboro, Todd R. Manley of Monroe Falls and Roger D. Collison of Orrville.

        Lt. Gov. Maureen O'Conner, who oversees the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said Monday she sees progress.

        “Will we ever totally eradicate the alcohol-consuming driver?” said Ms. O'Connor, a former Summit County prosecutor.

        “Of course, one death is one too many, but we can't be discouraged.

“It has to be continued educational efforts. It has to be communities. It has to be friends, bartenders and social acquaintances realizing it's not an insult to tell someone you're calling them a cab or giving them a ride home.”

Boy on bike critically injured by hit-skip truck
Two Clermont drivers charged in deaths
How states punish drunken drivers

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