Pass bills that strengthen state's OWI laws
Press-Gazette Media Editorial Board 4:37 p.m. CDT October 17, 2015
Talk to your average person on the street and you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who believes someone with five drunken-driving convictions should have a driver’s license. Or three convictions for that matter. But good luck getting the Wisconsin Legislature to either believe that or do anything about it. It’s too busy fast-tracking, or attempting to, right-to-work legislation, civil service reform, changes to the Open Records Law. Meanwhile, drunken drivers continue to menace law-abiding drivers and pedestrians. Talk about skewed priorities.
Wisconsin remains the state with the most lenient drunken driving penalties. It is the only state in the country in which a first-time operating while intoxicated conviction is a traffic citation, not a crime. In the 2013-15 session, the state Senate voted on only one OWI bill that would increase penalties out of more than a dozen proposals.
Recently, state Reps. Eric Genrich, D-Green Bay, and Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, authored a bill that would permanently revoke the driver’s license of someone convicted of five OWI offenses.
Any legislation with bipartisan support would appear to be a slam dunk, especially one that toughens OWI penalties for drivers who have five or more convictions.
Support, though, seems to wane once an OWI bill reaches the state Senate. This time, however, the Assembly has an ally in Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, who authored the Senate bill — SB 335. It sounds almost ludicrous to give drivers with five OWIs a chance at legally keeping their licenses, but if this bill hasn’t been able to make it through the Legislature we doubt a three-strikes-and-you're-out bill would make it. The Legislature needs to pass this bill this session and stop with the delays. A year ago, in conjunction with the Gannett Wisconsin Media series Under the Influence, the editorial board advocated making first-offense OWI a crime, requiring better follow-through on court-ordered assessments and devoting more money to treatment programs.
We also recommended longer revocations for drivers with multiple offenses. That’s where the five-strikes-and-you’re-out bill comes in. A GWM I-Team investigation last month showed 822 drivers were convicted of fifth-offense OWI, or higher, last year, a slight increase from 819 in 2013. The numbers aren’t getting any better on their own, so why not take away the privilege of holding a driver’s license.
For those who don’t believe the law will make a difference for those who are habitual offenders, what’s your alternative? Are you saying these drivers should get back their licenses? Are you opposed to a modest, but important, common-sense law? We agree that it certainly won’t stop everyone from becoming a six-time OWI offender, but that doesn't mean you scrap it.
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At the same time, Wisconsin needs to toughen its penalties on first-time offenders.
Under a bill by state Rep. Jim Ott, R-Mequon, a first-time offender would be charged with a misdemeanor and have to appear in court.
While it’s easy to get tough on chronic offenders, the first-timers are just as important. “People with no prior OWI history are involved in the majority of alcohol-related crash fatalities and injuries,” according to the state Department of Transportation.
As of Dec. 31 2012, first-time offenders accounted for two-thirds of all OWI convictions — 413,754 out of 612,294 — according to the DOT.
A driver’s first OWI shouldn’t be chalked up to a “stupid mistake.” That might be the case, but trivializing it in this way diminishes the seriousness of the offense and the potential for serious injury. The tougher consequences for a first OWI will deter some drivers. It won’t stop every single one, but laws against murder don’t stop every single homicide. Fatal drunken driving crashes are totally preventable and our laws should reflect how seriously we as a society take this problem.
If tougher penalties stop one driver, they will have made a difference. Just ask anyone who has been hurt or lost a loved one because of crash involving a drunken driver.