There seems to be a fresh breeze of sanity blowing through a few statehouses recently -- at least on the issue of drunk driving. A couple of weeks ago I was congratulating the Nebraska Unicameral for unanimously passing LB 736, a bill that will require the installation of an alcohol ignition interlock device for both a first and second drunk driving conviction. And today I have high hopes that similar action may be taken by Missouri and Colorado.House Bill 1423 passed the Missouri House, 137-4. It would require repeat drunken driving offenders to pass a mechanical sobriety test (ignition interlock device) before putting their vehicle into drive. The Senate must approve it and the Governor must sign it into law, but the Senate's judiciary committee voting 7-0 to approve the House bill is an encouraging sign.
Republican Representative Neal St. Onge from St. Louis County was pleased. He explained that there are 118,000 multiple drunken driving offenders on Missouri roadways. About 43,000 of them have three or more drunken driving convictions, and 7,500 have five or more convictions for driving while under the influence of alcohol. "This would get most of them off the road."
Then get it done, Missouri.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, the state in which my father was killed by a drunk driver in 1985, HB 1194 has passed the Colorado House and Senate. This legislation will increase penalties and require ignition interlock usage for first time DUI offenders. It also will more effectively hold DUI offenders accountable for their actions while maintaining an incentive and performance-based program.
Here too such a bill is long overdue. In 2006, for example, 226 people were killed in Colorado as a result of alcohol-related crashes. Presently, about one third of road fatalities in Colorado involve a drunk driver.
If you live in Missouri, please contact your Senators and Governor Matt Blunt, asking them to enthusiastically and quickly pass 1423. In Colorado, call or e-mail Governor Bill Ritter and ask him to quickly sign 1194.
In fact, even if you don't live in those states, you can make these appeals. Hey, you know people in these states, right? And you have to occasionally drive through them, right? Of course you do, so feel free to contact them too.
Saving lives is an affair for all of us.
