Drunken Driving Takes Deadly Toll
By Jennifer Palmer, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City |
Johnson, a preacher's daughter, was 18 and had been driving her own car just three months. She was deep in alcohol addiction and her decision to drive that night had deadly consequences.
She veered into the left lane, and hit another car head-on that night in 2002, killing the other driver,
"They had to use the jaws of life to get me out," Johnson recalls. "It was ... surreal."
Nearly 2,700 people were killed or injured in alcohol-related crashes last year in
Alcohol was a factor in 3,824 vehicle crashes in 2013; in 127 fatal crashes, the driver was under the influence. The most common day for a drunken driving crash was Saturday, and the most common time was
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More on impaired driving in
Notable distracted driving accidents in the last 15 years What is blood alcohol concentration? Mother of
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The holidays are an especially dangerous time on the roads, records show. Half of the traffic fatalities that occurred over the 2013
When Johnson was told the driver she hit didn't survive, she was devastated. She wrote his family a letter, asking for forgiveness.
Her blood-alcohol level wasn't tested at the scene; she was never charged.
It wasn't until a few years later, when she became a mother, that she gave up drinking.
She tells her story now hoping it will help others struggling with addiction. She wrote a book called "
"Some say I'm brave to share. I don't see it that way. I feel it has to be shared, I owe that to him," she said.
She often hears grumbling from the audience at the start of panels. For them, it's just another box to check off on the way to completing the judge's order. But something changes as they listen to the stories of drunken drivers like Johnson, victims whose son or daughter died in a crash, and emergency workers who see the aftermath of countless alcohol-related wrecks.
"Everyone needs to hear that no matter what they've done, they can still turn around and do the right thing," she said.
Costs
There were 13,801
Those arrested face prosecution in the courts and administrative sanctions through the state
A first time DUI is estimated to cost
"The costs are horrendous. The court costs for a DUI are higher than in a murder case," Box said. "The ordinary person, the hourly wage earner that doesn't get much above minimum wage, you're almost setting them up for failure because they can't pay."
The standard blood-alcohol level used to determine whether someone is legally intoxicated is 0.08, but a state task force studying drunken driving has actually considered raising it to 0.10 -- despite a 2013 push from the
"You want to have something that is enforceable and meaningful," he said. "I don't know that a lot of people would be intoxicated if we took it to 0.05."
One major issue the task force is addressing is the number of DUIs filed in cities' municipal courts -- preventing a subsequent offense from becoming a felony, as the law is intended. Lt.
The 10-member state task force, created in 2013 and comprised of people from various state agencies, also is examining how to prevent drivers from avoiding the expensive process of getting their license back after a DUI. Smoot said 80 to 90 percent of drivers are not trying to get their license back after revocation, apparently choosing instead to drive without one.
Prosecuting servers
New efforts are underway to hold the people selling and serving alcohol responsible when someone dies in a drunken driving crash.
In April, the
"Instead of just letting it end at the DUI being worked, we go back and figure out if there was another crime committed," he said.
Smoot said the purpose of the initiative is simply to reduce DUIs. The agency's efforts have resulted in several charges filed.
In one case, ABLE traced the 2013 death of
Ford left the
In a separate case, authorities traced the
Kerns died the day before his junior prom. Instead of dancing in his prom attire, he was buried in it.
Kerns' parents sued the
Driving alternatives
Alternatives to driving drunk include taxis as well as ride-sharing services like Uber and
On its blog,
Tipsy Tow is a free service provided by
"They are able to bring their car home, and they don't have anything else to worry about," said
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