Drunk Driving

Drunk Driving

In this article I am going to tell you about the consequences of driving drunk. The laws for Wisconsin are if you have a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of .1 or over you get a DUI of OWI. Wisconsin prohibits a person from driving or operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. If a person has two or more OWI violations after January 1, 1989 it will stay on their driver's record permanently.

You do not have to take a chemical test but a refusal on a first OWI offense will result in a one-year license revocation and a 30-day waiting period for an occupational license. On a first OWI offense a person is immediately eligible to apply for an occupational license, there is no waiting period. On a second offense there is a 60-day waiting period. On the third subsequent offenses there is a 90-day waiting period.

Police say drunken driving charges are already hard to prove and now it's getting harder. Investigators say a recent court ruling will make it more difficult to get a blood sample from suspects and lead to more drivers getting off the hook. Ohio's high court ruled hospital blood samples are not admissible in court unless they meet Ohio department of health standards. But, Toledo police say local hospitals aren't certified to do that. The traffic police unit say local hospitals aren't certified to do that either. The police traffic unit says it's working with the Lucas County Coroner and the Ohio State Highway Patrol to have those agencies perform usable blood tests. Police say so far this year drunk drivers have caused 12 of 25 fatal crashes in the city.

Statistics

 During 2003, 17,013 people in the U.S. died in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes, representing 40% of all traffic-related deaths (NHTSA 2004a).

 In 2002, about 1.5 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics (NHTSA 2004a). That's slightly more than one percent of the 120 million self-reported episodes of alcoholÐ'-impaired driving among U.S. adults each year.

 Drugs other than alcohol (e.g., marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are generally used in combination with alcohol (NHTSA 2003).

 More than two-thirds of child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-related crashes during 1997Ð'-2002 were riding with the drinking driver; only 32% of them were properly restrained at the time of the crash.

Cost

Each year, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost about $51 billion as of 2002.

Groups at Risk

Ð'* Male drivers involved in fatal motor vehicle crashes are almost twice as likely as female drivers to be intoxicated with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08% or greater (NHTSA 2004b). A BAC of 0.08% is equal to or greater than the legal limit in most states.

Ð'* At all levels of blood alcohol concentration, the risk of being involved in a crash is greater for young people than for older people. In 2003, 25% of drivers ages 15 to 20 who died in motor vehicle crashes had been drinking alcohol (NHTSA 2004c).