Tampa criminal lawyersThe most recent statistics for 2008 showed that 11,773 people were killed across the country in alcohol related car crashes.  This represents a 9.7 percent decreased from 2007 in alcohol impaired driving fatalities.  Tampa criminal lawyers credit this drop in alcohol related fatalities to a number of things: the failing economy in which people do not have as much discretionary spending money for things such as alcohol; tougher repeat offender laws in many states and several states most recent implementation of a new program in which younger adults – mostly teens – convicted of DUIs are sent to their county morgue or are forced to spend a night in prison as a way of ‘shocking’ them into stopping their dangerous drunken driving behavior. There is currently no official data on if this ‘shock therapy’ is working or not, but hopes are high that these young people are being ‘scared straight’.

A Tampa DUI lawyer  remarks that many cities and states allow DUIs to pile up before the person is slapped with jail time.  Unless they have killed someone while drinking and driving, they usually get a reduced sentence and are back on the streets in a matter of days.  In Wisconsin for example, in order to enact tougher penalties on drunk drivers, for people convicted of seven or more DUIs, which will be placed in prison for an amount of time to be determined by the judge.  This prompted Mothers against Drunk Drivers (MADD) to say that “Wisconsin is a state in deep denial because the first DUI offense is nothing more than a civil penalty”.

Mothers against Drunk Drivers are strong proponents of the Ignition Interlock Systems in which the driver must basically take a Breathalyzer test before the ignition of their vehicle will start. It does not matter whether the person has been drinking beer or wine, it matters the amount of what they have been drinking and if the Ignition Interlock System detects anything near the .08, or if it’s set at .04 or anywhere in between, then the vehicle will not start and a driver must call a cab or find another way home.