Drunk Driving DUI Law

The law is about a come down harder on drunk drivers in Alabama.

On Friday morning, Governor Robert Bentley is planning to sign a bill that increases the penalties for people caught drinking and driving.

Senate Bill 67 was sponsored by Senator Rusty Glover.

Glover said right now, there are set penalties if drivers are caught with a blood alcohol level of .08, but when this new law comes into effect, penalties will be even harsher if drivers’ levels reach .15 or higher.

As Richard Hubbard and his wife sat at their kitchen table, they could remember June 8, 2006, as if it was yesterday. Their granddaughters, 5-year-old Lindsay and 5-month-old Sadie, were in a car with their father coming home from the movies when a drunk driver slammed into them at 80 miles an hour.

He said the girls’ car seats were hurled out onto the street.

“The car was sitting on the baby – the one that was five months old,” Hubbard said. “And the other one got throwed completely out of the car and was in a coma and never recovered.”

The family struggled to pay for the funeral costs.

“Never got 15 cents from the family that killed them,” he said. “I had cemetery lots, they was mine, and I gave them to the kids.”

The driver in that accident, Wesley Holston, is currently serving a 20 year prison sentence. A bouquet of flowers and two little angels decorate the girls’ grave.

Nothing can ever bring back his granddaughters, but perhaps a new bill can prevent another crime.

State senator Rusty Glover sponsored a bill that will double all fines and imprisonment for D.U.I. offenders with a blood alcohol content of .15 or higher. Glover said Alabama’s laws lag behind most states in the country.

Senator Glover said, “It’s no increased penalty if you’re excessively drunk. If you’re drunk to the point where you’re most likely gonna cause an accident, there’s no punishment – extra punishment – if you’re at that level.”

After the new bill is signed, the more intoxicated a driver is, the harsher the penalty will be. If drivers pass the .15 mark, they will lose their license for a year.

Glover said 41 other states already have similar laws in place, and 56 percent of all deadly accidents occur when one of the drivers has a blood alcohol level of .15 or higher.

Governor Bentley will sign the bill into law Friday morning.

Hubbard fully supports the bill and hopes his story serves as a lesson to drivers who drink.

“They’re taking a deadly weapon and using it when they use an automobile driving drunk,” said Hubbard.

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