Increased Monitoring of Repeat DUI Offenders will Protect Floridians
By Linda Unfried
Gov. Charlie Crist should approve legislation to provide new state supervision and require installation of ignition interlock devices for repeat drunk-driving offenders.
More than any other policy option, ignition interlock devices save lives and reduce DUI recidivism. Since 2003 when New Mexico implemented the nation’s toughest interlock law, that state’s drunk driving re-arrest rate has dropped by 37 percent and alcohol-related fatalities have declined by 35 percent.
But today in Florida, thousands of state residents have four or more DUI convictions on their record and are therefore legally prohibited from having a driver license. At first glance, permanently revoking offenders’ licenses seems like common sense – but the evidence shows that it hasn’t worked.
According to national research by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, up to 75 percent of suspended or revoked offenders continue to drive anyway – without supervision, without interlock devices and without auto insurance. This makes Floridians less safe.
As cofounder of the Hillsborough County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and as an employee of the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, I see the flaws in our current policy day in and day out. In one recent Hillsborough County case, an offender was charged with three different DUIs within a period of two weeks. Simply revoking a driver’s license is meaningless when the offender has such a total disregard for the law.
However, if Gov. Crist approves HB 971, he will help protect Floridians by requiring interlock devices as well as strict monitoring for repeat offenders. It is important to note that the legislation’s requirements for a ‘Hard Path Back’ for repeat offenders would put these offenders under state supervision requirements that are more stringent than current law – not more lenient.
In fact, Florida’s requirements governing repeat offenders who could seek to apply for a “hardship license” would become some of the toughest in the nation. Ex-offenders would be required to submit to random alcohol and drug testing, and they would be forced to report each month to Florida’s DUI special supervision services program.
Most importantly, the legislation also requires repeat offenders to install an ignition interlock device for a minimum of 5 years. This is the strongest tool we have to prevent drunk driving, and it has been proven to save lives.
All this can be done at no cost to taxpayers because applicants must also pay nearly $2,000 a year to finance their own ignition interlock device as well as the cost of their state supervision.
In 2008, 875 Floridians were killed in crashes involving a drunk driver, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Fifty-eight of these fatalities were in Hillsborough County.
But if Gov. Crist approves HB 971, our state will take one of the most significant steps toward protecting Floridians and visitors on our roadways that we have made in years.
I know the importance of this policy, because I know the cost that drunk driving inflicts on Florida families. In 1983, my sister Josie was killed by a drunk driver. The offender was charged with DUI manslaughter and lost his license for life, but he was charged with driving with a suspended license at least four additional times after Josie’s death – and charged with DUI twice more.
If an ignition interlock had been placed in his car, he could not have driven drunk again. That’s why I know that being tough on DUI doesn’t mean grandstanding — it means working to change attitudes and enacting public policy that will reduce the number of families who know what it’s like to lose a loved one to a drunk driver.
I strongly urge Gov. Crist to sign HB 971 to reduce the number of Floridians who will suffer injury, death and grief due to drunk driving.
Linda Unfried is cofounder of the Hillsborough County chapter for MADD and is employed by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
