SAFETY STUDY
Adopted: September 18, 1984
DEFICIENCIES IN ENFORCEMENT, JUDICIAL, AND
TREATMENT PROGRAMS RELATED TO
REPEAT OFFENDER DRUNK DRIVERS

NTSB NUMBER: SS-84/04
NTIS  NUMBER: PB84-917007


SYNOPSIS
On August 22, 1982, about 5:50 p.m., a 1969 GMC pickup truck traveling about
60 mph eastbound on State Highway 589 near Oakridge, Oregon, failed to negotiate a right-hand curve, crossed the centerline into the opposing lane, and hit a 1978 Volkswagen van, right front to right front. Both vehicles were destroyed. The right front passenger in the van was killed; the van driver and the right rear passenger sustained major, disabling injuries; the left rear passenger, a 14-month-old child, properly restrained in a child safety seat, was injured. The driver of the pickup sustained minor injuries.

The 41-year-old male Pickup driver had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.15 percent, was driving on a revoked Oregon driver's license, and had been convicted of 22 alcohol-related offenses since 1958. Nine of these convictions were for driving While intoxicated (three times while driving On a suspended license); four of the offenses involved accidents. He had been convicted 12 times of disorderly conduct involving alcohol.

On February 17, 1984, about 5:00 p.m., a 1971 Oldsmobile was westbound on Beechmont Avenue in Cincinnati, Ohio, traveling the wrong way in a reversible lane; the Oldsmobile struck a 1979 Renault head-on. The 42-year-old Renault driver was ejected and was killed. The driver of the Oldsmobile had a BAC of 0.24 percent and Was driving on a suspended license.

The 41-year-old driver's record indicated 52 contacts with law enforcement officials for driving violations; 32 had led to convictions for drunk driving, reckless driving, or driving with a suspended license. As a result of the February 1984 accident, he was convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter while driving under suspension. He Was sentenced to 13 to 25 years in prison, and driving privileges were suspended for life.

These cases dramatically illustrate one of the most difficult aspects of this country's drunk driving highway safety problem: the repeat offender drunk driver. In 1983, there were about 38,000 fatal accidents, which killed 42,600 persons. A National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) study indicates that the alcohol involvement in these fatal accidents was 53 percent. Highway safety professionals have been concerned for decades about highway fatalities and injuries due to drunk driving. Recently, grassroots organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), Remove Intoxicated Drivers (RID), and Students Against Drunk Driving (SADD) have heightened public attention to the problem. Many Governors have appointed task forces on drunk driving, and In 1982, President Ronald Reagan appointed a Commission on Drunk Driving to examine the problem. The Commission held hearings on drunk driving issues and, in November 1983, Issued a final report to the President. The Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 provided for Incentive grants for the States to encourage improvements in traffic safety programs directed at drunk driving.

NHTSA has estimated that 30 percent of - the 773,000 drunk driving convictions each year are of "repeat offenders." In 1983, the National Transportation Safety Board began a Safety Study to document and highlight the flaws in the enforcement, judicial, and treatment systems which contribute to the persistence of this problem. The Safety Board investigated 51 accidents involving drunk drivers as a part of this study. Of these, 45 were fatal accidents, involving 73 fatalities. The 56 drunk drivers in these accidents had accumulated 164 arrests for offenses involving alcohol, including 131 for DWI,- they had at least 124 convictions for alcohol-related offenses, including at least 93 for drunk driving.

This report presents the findings and recommendations of the Safety Board, study on "repeat offender" drunk drivers. The report recommends steps that Federal State, and local governments and other institutions should take to enhance the effectiveness of the enforcement, judicial, and treatment practices in reducing recidivism.

The report is organized in the chronological order of events which could be encountered by a drunk driver being processed through the several systems. Many of the system deficiencies are exemplified by drunk driving cases investigated by the Safety Board and interviews of repeat drunk driving offenders.

RECOMMNEDATIONS

As result of its Safety Study on the Repeat Alcohol Offender, the National Transportation Safety Board made the following recommendations:

-to the Governors of the 50 States and the Mayor of the District of Columbia:

Encourage the use, by all traffic law enforcement agencies In your State, of preliminary breath test devices and the NHISA-recommended three-part field sobriety test, including the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-77)

Propose legislation, if necessary, and/or take other appropriate action to facilitate the collection of DWI evidence based on the drawing of blood for BAC test purposes. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-78)

Encourage detention agencies In your State to adopt DWI holding and release policies that do not permit the release of alcohol offenders until after their blood alcohol concentration has dropped below the lowest level specified in State law as indicating alcohol impairment. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-79)

Take steps to preclude reduction of an alcohol-related charge to a nonalcohol-related charge and to require in all cases that the defendant's driving record reflect the original charge. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-80)

Encourage and support Initial and recurrent training on alcohol problem drinking, and drunk driving case adjudication for all judges hearing DWI cases. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-81)

Take steps to develop a records system that preserves records of alcohol-related traffic offenses committed by a juvenile after the offender reaches adulthood. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-82)

Take steps to require that law enforcement and judicial records systems in your State include complete records of DWI defendants previous alcohol-related traffic offenses, including those committed as a juvenile, and that they are available to judges prior to sentencing. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-83)

Require that appropriate alcohol problem evaluations of persons charged with alcohol-related traffic offenses be conducted and made available to judges hearing these cases. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-84)

Take steps to ensure that no diversion or supervision program in your State is used in place of license revocation/suspension and that court and DMV records reflect participation In diversion/supervision programs. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-85)

Take action to increase the availability and quality of alcohol treatment services designed specifically for juvenile alcohol abusers especially to provide services at low Cost to the user. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-86)

-to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

Evaluate the effectiveness of license actions against juveniles who violate alcohol laws, such as the laws recently enacted in Oregon, Washington, North Carolina, Maryland, and Maine (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-87)

Incorporate the salient features of such court records systems as the Court Reporting Network in Pennsylvania and the PROMIS System Colorado in the model case Management Information System; ensure that the model system incorporates motor vehicle licensing records and court records of drunk driving-related violations and convictions(Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-88)

-to the Veterans Administration:

Develop and implement a national policy making VA hospital alcohol dependence treatment programs more consistently available to local traffic court rehabilitation programs for convicted DWI defendants who are veterans. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-84-89)

-to the American Bar Associations, the National Association of State Judicial Educators, and the National Judicial College:

Work with State governments, state judicial orgnizations, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to vigorously promote initial and recurrent training for judges in alcohol issues and DWI case adjudication and to develop more sources of funds for financing this training. (Class III, Longer Term Action) (H-84-90)