Save lives by sending tough message on drunk driving

By the Journal Editorial Board | Thursday, September 27, 2007

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The toll that alcoholism takes on all its victims  —  the innocent and the guilty alike — was made painfully clear once again on a sunny Sunday morning in Rapid City this week.

Four youths, age 10 to 15, survived injuries ranging from a broken pelvis to lacerations after being struck by a car driven by a drunk driver while riding their bicycles at the intersection of North LaCross St. and Seger Drive on Sept. 23.

The driver of the car was arrested on her third offense DUI and vehicular battery. Tammy Ann Bradford, 39, may also face other charges.

The tragic consequences of drinking and driving too often take a back seat in America, which celebrates the consumption of alcohol in countless different ways. American culture glamorizes the drink, the drinker and even the drunk in everything from commercials to comedy routines.

But driving under the influence isn’t glamorous or amusing. It’s deadly.

By some miracle of dumb luck or divine intervention, Sunday’s accident did not produce the horrific consequences it easily could have —  four dead children and one dead driver.

While we’re thankful that lives were spared this time, all too often they are not.

So far this year, more than 10,230 people have been killed in the United States by drunk drivers. More than 20 percent of all highway fatalities are a result of drunk drivers each year. In 2006, there were 17,602 people who died in alcohol-related car crashes — about one every 29 minutes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The toll in injuries is much, much higher.

Research shows that mandatory revocation of driver’s licenses for drivers over the 0.08 limit or for those who refuse a BAC test has been effective at reducing fatalities.

License revocation combined with mandatory jail sentences, even short ones, are even more effective deterrents for low-BAC drunk drivers, it seems.

For high-BAC drivers and repeat offenders, those punishments are less effective. For them,  legislators and law enforcement should try and evaluate other measures, such as vehicle confiscation.

Drunk driving, like any social problem, resists simple solutions. We don’t pretend to have any of those.

But certainly, our justice  system and society at large must begin to send the message that punishment for drinking  and driving will be certain and it will be swift.