Boston Drunk Driving Laws

New drunk driving law seems to have quick effects
December 31, 2005

BOSTON -- The number of repeat drunken driving arrests in Massachusetts has dropped 44 percent in the two months since lawmakers passed Melanie's law, a tough new measure aimed at habitual offenders.

In the two months since the law passed, 1,051 repeat offenders were charged with drunken driving. That's compared to 1,889 during the same period a year before, according to statistics from the state Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Advocates of the law said they were encouraged by the early results, though they emphasized the numbers reflect just a short period of time.

Ron Bersani, grandfather of Melanie Powell, for whom the law was named, said he hopes the drop shows that people are "smartening up" about the affects of drunken driving. Powell was a 13-year-old from Marshfield who was killed by a repeat drunken driver.

"I suspect there are a lot of people now who have been pulled over once or twice who became very, very well aware of the new law and saw the incredible ramifications," Bersani told The Boston Globe.

The new law, enacted Oct. 28, mandates a year in prison for someone who drives with a suspended license. It doubles to a year the waiting period for second-time offenders to apply for hardship licenses to get to work. If a driver already convicted of one drunken driving charge declines blood-alcohol tests on a second charge, his or her license is suspended for three years. Drivers who decline the test after fatal accidents would lose their licenses for life, if convicted in the accident.

And starting Tuesday, repeat offenders who want their licenses restored will have to blow into a device that prevents the ignition from starting if any alcohol is detected on their breath. The offenders must use the device for two years.

Though repeat drunken driving arrests have dropped, the number of drunken driving offenses overall has changed little in the last two months.

Since the law took effect, 2,215 Massachusetts motorists have been arrested on drunken driving charges. That's down less than 2 percent from the same period last year, according to Registry data.

Last year, 203 people were killed in alcohol-related accidents in Massachusetts, 43 percent of all vehicle-related fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

SOURCE: Boston News

Tags: DUI News |  Massachusetts DUI