Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Program for Controlling the Higher Risk Driver

Higher Risk Drivers Are:

• Offenders convicted (conviction is defined as receiving a court-imposed sanction) of a second driving-under-the –influence offense within a 5-year period.
• Offenders convicted of a first driving-under-the-influence offense with a BAC of .15% or higher.
• Offenders convicted of a driving-while-suspended offense, where the suspension was the result of a conviction for driving under the influence.

Minimum Sanctions for Higher Risk Drivers:

• RESTRICTIONS on Driving:

Repeat Offenders and High BAC Drivers

• A 1-year administrative license suspension for people who fail the breath test or a 2-year suspension penalty for refusal of the breath test.A portion of that license suspension must be a hard suspension (recommended time: 90 days)
• 2.     Impoundment/immobilization of the vehicle driven at the time of arrest for the period of hard license suspension.
• 3.     A 5-year period from the date of conviction during which the offender is subject to a .05 BAC limit and required to provide a breath test, if requested by an officer following a legal traffic stop.
• 4.     Alcohol ignition interlock required prior to issuance of probationary/hardship/work permit license and for full license suspension period.

Driving While Suspended Offenders:

• Alcohol ignition interlock device required for remaining license suspension period and any additional suspension period imposed as a result of the conviction for driving while suspended.
• 2.     A 1-month vehicle impoundment or immobilization upon the first offense for driving while suspended with vehicle forfeiture for any subsequent offenses.

• RESTITIUTION sanctions:

Repeat Offenders and High BAC Drivers

• Ten days incarceration, 30 days in a special facility, or 100 days house arrest with electronic monitoring.
• 2.     $1,000 fine earmarked for drunk driving prevention, enforcement, and prosecution.
• 3.     If arrest resulted from involvement in a crash, the court shall require restitution to the victims.

Driving While Suspended Offenders

• If arrest resulted from involvement in a crash, the court shall require restitution to the victims

• RECOVERY provisions:

Repeat Offenders and High BAC Drivers

• The court will place the offender under probation for 2 years.
• 2.     The court will require, under the terms of probation, that the offender attends a treatment program of up to a year in duration, as required by a state certified substance abuse treatment agency.
• 3.     During the treatment period, the offender will be required to meet with a case manager at least once a month who will ensure that the offender is attending treatment as specified by the treatment agency and remains abstinent.
• 4.     The court shall order the offender to attend a victim impact panel, if such a panel is available.

Sobriety Checkpoints:

MADD advocates the use of regular, highly publicized sobriety checkpoints as a means of deterring, identifying, and apprehending higher risk drivers and other potential offenders.

Data Collection and Record-Keeping:

MADD urges the establishment and implementation of statewide DUI tracking and record-keeping in order to effectively identify higher risk drivers and to ensure that states gather and keep accurate records on offenders.