The Maryland General Assembly enacted three new DUI laws that took effect Oct. 1, which I supported. These laws target repeat DUI offenders, and are patterned after recommendations made by the 2007 Task Force to Combat Driving Under the Influence of Drugs and Alcohol.
One law makes it more difficult for a repeat DUI offender to get probation before judgment, to avoid a drunk driving conviction. The law increases from five to 10 years the amount of time that must pass between a first DUI conviction and a second DUI conviction in order for an offender to get probation before judgment.
Highway safety groups, including MADD, point out that by the time a drunk driver is caught the first time, he or she has driven drunk hundreds of times. These groups endorse tougher penalties for a first-time DUI conviction. According to the state's District Courts, 41,038 traffic citations involving alcohol and/or drug-related driving were filed in fiscal 2008. There were guilty dispositions for 5,014 of those citations and 6,025 were disposed of with probation before judgment.
The second law, mandated by the federal government, requires at least a one-year license suspension for violation of any part of the DUI law. States that do not enact the law will see 1.5 percent of their federal highway construction funds transferred to highway safety projects.
The third law increases the penalties for drivers who violate DUI restrictions placed on their license by the Motor Vehicle Administration. Penalties for violators include a fine up to $500 and two months in jail. In Maine, a similar law reduced the number of DUI drivers involved in fatal crashes by 45 percent. DUI is known as "an avoidable crime." Tougher DUI laws have proved to be an effective way to reduce drunk driving.
