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If you’re wondering why Virginia and other states have been enacting stricter and stricter laws regarding drinking and driving, look no further than the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The NTSB maintains a list of “most wanted” transportation safety improvements at the federal and state level, and right now they are highlighting hard core drinking and driving as a major issue for states like Virginia to address.

The NTSB defines a “hard core drinking driver” as a repeat offender with a prior DWI arrest or conviction within the past 10 years, or an offender with a BAC of 0.15% or greater. The agency believes that these drivers are at an increased risk for causing crashes, injuries, and fatalities. All of their recommendations for changes to state laws involve further crackdowns on these so-called “hard core drinking drivers”.

How States Should Eliminate Hard Core Drinking and Driving

According to the NTSB, in 2005 hard core drinking drivers were involved in a minimum of 9,236 (54.7%) alcohol related fatalities, the estimated cost of which was over $9.1 billion. In order to reduce the number of accidents, injuries, and fatalites caused by these drivers, the Board would like to see states enact the following program elements:

Statewide sobriety checkpoints
Vehicle sanctions to restrict or separate hard core drinking drivers from their vehicles
State and community cooperative programs to enforce DWI driver’s license suspension and revocation
Legislation to require that DWI offenders maintain a zero BAC while operating a motor vehicle
Legislation that defines a high BAC (0.15 percent or greater) as an “aggravated” DWI offense
Alternatives to confinement, such as home detention with electronic monitoring
Legislation that restricts the plea bargaining of a DWI offense to a lesser, non-alcohol-related offense
Elimination of diversion programs that permit erasing, deferring, or otherwise purging the DWI offense record or that allow the offender to avoid license suspension
Administrative license revocation (ALR) for BAC test failure and refusal
A DWI record retention and DWI offense enhancement look-back period of at least 10 years
Individualized sanction programs for hard core DWI offenders.

Aggressive moves by federal and state officials to increase penalties for drinking and driving related accidents means that you need to take your DUI charge seriously. We encourage you to speak with an experienced DUI attorney in order to ensure that you are treated fairly by the courts and that you aren’t unfairly punished as part of a crackdown campaign by a state looking to please the federal government.

If you need the assistance of a law firm skilled at DUI defense that will give your case the personal attention it deserves, please contact Weisberg & Zaleski immediately to find out how we can help you.

Weisberg & Zaleski, P.C.
112 College Place
Norfolk, VA 23510

Toll Free: (800) 690-0235
Phone: (757) 622-7740
Fax: (757) 533-9223