CalMatters recently reported on a far more troubling example. In an investigative report last month, it found that the sate of California, primarily through the Department of Motor Vehicles, allows repeat, drunken drivers to offend over and over. “The toll can be counted in lives,” it reported. “Alcohol-related roadway deaths in California have shot up by more than 50% in the past decade — an increase more than twice as steep as the rest of the country.”
Given the above-mentioned syndrome, we would expect the state to consider toughening enforcement, but in a way that could compound the problem. As with many crimes, the drunken-driving body count is driven by repeat offenders. It would be easy to throw the book at a one-time drunken driver who is barely over the legal limit, but much harder to devise a system that permanently removes the incorrigible drunks from the roads.
As CalMatters added, “California too often fails to differentiate between drunk drivers who made a dangerous mistake but learn from it and those who refuse to stop endangering lives.” It gave the example of a drunk driver who killed a woman in 2021. The driver had been convicted of drunken driving in 2018, 2019 and 2020. “We found drivers with as many as six DUIs who were able to get a license in California,” it noted.
Given the carnage, this seems like an opportunity for the Legislature to save lives once it returns to session. But it must not just boost penalties overall, but instead needs to go after the tougher marks: those who repeatedly and wantonly endanger other citizens.
