Drunk
Driving Laws Making Impact In California
Abridged Story
From a news story by
CNN San Francisco Reporter Greg Lefevre
June 28, 2000
Rebecca and Deputy Jeff Anderson, the man she was going to marry, were
in their car. A driver who had been drinking was driving the wrong way
down the road. The drunk driver's car ran into them. Jeff was killed.
They thought Rebecca would die.
Now Rebecca thinks drivers who drink are killers who need to be stopped.
This is the reason she joined MADD, Mothers Against Drunk
Driving. Drunk driving has been against the law in California since
1911.
The police did not enforce the law. MADD tries to change the way we
look at drunk drivers.
Rebecca Bearden says, "It's not just a car accident. It is a crime,
and it is a violent crime. And we have worked very hard and have succeeded
in convincing society that that is so."
Society has changed. Today often one person at a party does not drink.
This person is the driver. People think this is a good thing to do.
It is okay to have a sober high school graduation.
It wasn't that way 25 years ago. California freeways are much safer
than highways in the US. This is because the cops and the California
Highway Patrol are out there doing what they can to keep the drunks
from killing you.
Alcohol related deaths in California have gone DOWN 61-percent since
1980. While drivers and miles driven has gone UP 15-percent. The punishment
is severe if you are drinking and driving. In California an officer
can take a driver’s license on the spot if the driver tests drunk.
A research manager for the Department of Motor Vehicles said they looked
at the new law when it started in 1990. They found about 15-percent
less alcohol-related incidents.
The chance of being arrested again is cut in half if the driver completes
a treatment program.
The work is far from over. California still arrests a drunk driver every
six minutes. And one in fifty California drivers know someone killed
by a drunk driver. There is much yet to do.
Additional Notes:
Rebecca refers to the drunk
driver having a .28 blood alcohol concentration (BAC). The amount
of alcohol in a person’s body is measured by the weight of the
alcohol in a certain volume of blood. It is expressed as grams per deciliter
of blood. In most states a person is considered intoxicated (drunk enough
to make driving ability impaired) with a .10 BAC. The
legal level in California is .08. To understand what this means go to
this web site.
For further information look
at the entire document and its table of contents.
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