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Driving Under the Influence is a dangerous crime that could be easily avoided.  In West Virginia alone, in 2008 143 total deaths were recorded where at least one driver had alcohol in their system, according to DUI-USA.DrinkDriving.org.

In Charleston,  The Willy Foundation was started by the family of Willy Shuman.  Willy was killed in a DUI accident in June, 2009.  Willy was riding as a passenger when the vehicle crashed in the Davis Creek area.  The driver of the vehicle later pleaded guilty to DUI.  Click here for past stories on the accident.

According to the foundation’s website, their mission “is to motivate, encourage and support young men and women in order to reach their fullest potential and become leaders in their communities.”  The Willy Foundation aims to help young men and women focus on their goals and encourages them to make safe and healthy lifestyle decisions.  Click here for the foundation’s mission statement.

According to drivinglaws.org, in West Virginia, a person can face 24 hours to 6 months in jail the first time they are arrested and convicted of drunk driving.  That driver may also face a fine up to $500.  But no fine compares to injuries and deaths that can happen with drunk driving.

The illegal level of blood alcohol concentration in West Virginia is .08 or above.  In West Virginia, that level drops to .04 for commercial drivers and a no tolerance rule is in affect for drivers under the age of 21.

To test your blood alcohol content level, go here.

Steve Doell has seen people driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs again and again throughout the years. He has talked to the families of people who’ve been killed in impaired-driving crashes.

He wants to know why DUI convicts are given so many chances.

“Why should you ever get another chance when you continue to be repetitive? It’s ludicrous,” said Doell, the president of Oregon Crime Victims United. “We should have incremental increases in our punishment cycle for these people. In Oregon, its not really like three strikes you’re out. It’s like five strikes and you’re out.”

Oregon Crime Victims United doesn’t have an official stance on DUI offenders, but Doell said the state’s current law is a travesty because it allows offenders so many chances to avoid long-term incarceration.

He agrees that both strict incarceration statutes and treatment are necessary to cut the number of repeat DUI offenders, but he said treatment programs need to be more highly regulated and scientifically tested to be more effective.

Changing the law to include gradually increasing penalties is one of many enforcement options. Other proposals, both current and past, would allow sobriety checkpoints, raise taxes to pay for more police, lower the limit of blood alcohol content that automatically qualifies someone as impaired and give more treatment options to prisoners.

But legislators have struggled to toughen punishments and give law enforcement more resources because of the money it would cost.

So it may be up to the voters.
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The Utah Supreme Court says information provided by a man’s girlfriend was enough for authorities to reasonably suspect he was driving under the influence of alcohol.

The court on Friday reversed an appeals court decision involving a a DUI charge for Jose Roybal.

Roybal was arrested in 2005 after drinking at his home, getting into an argument with his girlfriend and leaving. After he left, she called 911. He was later arrested, largely because of information the woman provided police.

The appeals court concluded the woman was an unreliable source because she may have had ulterior motives.

In its 4-1 decision, though, the Utah Supreme Court said the girlfriend was reliable enough to give dispatchers a reasonable suspicion that Roybal was driving while intoxicated.

In almost every DUI case there is a way around a conviction. Obviously this man had to go all the way to the supreme court, but it would be in anyone’s best interest to hire an experienced DUI/DWI lawyer when accused of drunk driving.

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Arizona’s DUI task forces made more than 170 driving-under-the-influence arrests during Cinco de Mayo with nearly a third of the drivers cited for extreme DUI.

Statistics released Thursday by Gov. Jan Brewer’s office show that 50 of the 171 DUI arrests Wednesday were drivers having blood-alcohol levels of .15 or higher. That’s well above the 0.08 percent legal limit to operate a vehicle in Arizona.

The statewide task forces had 224 participating officers and deputies for Cinco de Mayo checkpoints. They also report making 160 DUI misdemeanor arrests and 36 DUI drug arrests.

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On his first day at the police academy in 2003, Officer David Vidaure said his dream was to become a motor officer.

“And I did it,” Vidaure said with a big smile.

He graduated from motor school in December 2006 and was placed in his new assignment in 2008, now working on a DUI squad.

In February, Vidaure, 32, was honored at a banquet held by The Arizona Chapter of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) for his “outstanding dedication to reduce drunk driving in Arizona.” He was one of 20 officers throughout the state to receive the award.

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Missouri lawmakers tonight approved an overhaul of the state’s drunken driving laws.

The House gave final approval to a bill that would require judges to consider prior drinking and driving incidents when sentencing people. The bill now goes to Gov. Jay Nixon, who had made it one of his priorities for the session.

The legislation was prompted by concerns that drunken driving punishments vary widely among counties and that some people are able to continue driving despite multiple arrests.

The bill outlines penalties for judges, law enforcement officers and prosecutors who don’t submit drunken driving information to the state crime registry.

It also would allow some offenders to avoid jail by completing a DUI treatment program.

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The Nevada Supreme Court determined a driver need only fail one of two breath tests in order to lose his or her license for a DUI charge in the state.

The ruling reverses an earlier decision by Clark County Judge Michelle Leavitt. Leavitt decided the driver must fail both tests in order to lose a license. This ruling only applied to whether the driver’s license could be suspended, not whether criminal charges could be made. In Nevada, a driver can be charged with DUI despite passing a breath test if signs of impairment are evident.

The Nevada law, like laws in most states, requires two separate breath samples be taken at the scene. This helps prevent errors in the machine’s usage or calibration. If the tests show the driver has .08 percent BAC or higher, regardless of any sign of impairment, the driver may lose his or her license. The question before the Supreme Court was whether both tests must be positive for .08 percent or higher.

In an opinion by Justice Michael Douglas, the court argued that the law requiring two samples must be upheld. However, the court reversed the lower court’s decision, saying only one test must be positive in order for a license suspension to take place. The only stipulation is the tests are within .02 percent of each other.

In this case, an individual who tests .06 percent on one BAC test, as little as one drink for many individuals, then .08 percent on another, that person would lose the privilege to drive. While this was not exactly the situation with Audrea Taylor-Caldwell, a similar incident did occur. Taylor-Caldwell provided samples of .073 percent and .083 percent. Taylor-Caldwell, under the lower court’s ruling, would not lose her license.

Taylor-Caldwell did lose her license in an administrative hearing. Then, she regained the privilege to drive with Judge Leavitt’s decision. Now, since the case has finally flowed through the Supreme Court, Taylor-Caldwell must surrender her license. Her case will serve as precedent for future arrests with similar circumstances.

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A Montana city council has made it a crime for DUI suspects to refuse a breath or blood alcohol test.

The Missoula City Council voted 10 to 1 in favor of the ordinance, which makes refusing a test a misdemeanor offense, according to the Missoulian. The issue of drunk driving was pushed to the forefront in the past year by several high-profile DUI wrecks in the state.

Councilman Dave Strohmaier sponsored the ordinance and told the news source that it closed a loophole.

“I think this is a small step, albeit an important step, for the city of Missoula to say we’re going to do what we can to deal with DUI,” he said.

Opponents of the ordinance say that it infringes upon civil liberties. A view shared by the man who cast the one dissenting vote, councilman Jon Wilkins. Wilkins thinks that a fine for refusal would have been more appropriate than making it a crime.

“I do have a problem saying I’m guilty before I’m proven guilty,” he told the news provider.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there were 103 traffic fatalities in Montana that involved alcohol in 2008.

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Pennsylvania State Police made a record 16,900 drunken driving arrests last year, their eighth consecutive record-breaking year for DUI busts, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. At the same time, alcohol-related crash fatalities dropped to 141, a decline of 14 percent, and alcohol-related crashes investigated by state police declined about 1 percent, to 4,625. “It’s clear that our efforts to keep impaired drivers off our roads in Pennsylvania are having a positive impact,” police Commissioner Col. Frank E. Pawlowski said.

The 16,900 arrests in 2009 represented a 4 percent increase over the 16,156 arrests in 2008, state police reported. Col. Pawlowski said expansion of a drug recognition expert program and another program called Operation Nighthawk, which trains police to spot DUI motorists, fueled the department’s enforcement success. In Operation Nighthawk, a group of 40 to 50 state and municipal police officers gather at 6 p.m. on a Friday for about five hours of intensive training. Afterward, they go on roving patrols.

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With the clock ticking for lawmakers to get their work done before the end of the session, they’ve made a lot of progress in the last 24 hours.

Legislators are hard at work passing some laws that will have a big impact on Kansans. The first is the bill aimed at balancing the budget. It increases the sales tax by one cent starting in July. The bill now goes to the governor’s desk where he is expected to sign it.

The move protects funding to Kansas schools and should prevent more cuts to social services.

Lawmakers have also approved changes that will affect what you do behind the wheel. Among them is approving a ban on texting while driving. Legislators sent that ban to the governor late Monday. If you’re caught, it will cost you a $100 fine.

And a measure strengthening DUI laws was passed. It would require someone convicted of a second DUI to have an interlock device in the vehicle’s ignition. The device requires the driver to breathe into it in order to start the vehicle.

Also approved is a new seat belt law. If you aren’t wearing one, officers can now stop you for that. Unlike before when you would’ve had to commit another traffic violation before being ticketed for not buckling up. That bill is also on the governor’s desk.

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