Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 1, 1994 TAG: 9407010078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As of today, automobile drivers and motorboat operators can be convicted of driving under the influence if their blood-alcohol level is 0.08 percent or higher. The previous limit was 0.10 percent.
Virginia State Police, in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, will use that to their advantage tonight and throughout the weekend at several federally funded driver checkpoints.
Observing National Sobriety Checkpoint Week, June 28 through July 4, police will set up shop on roads across the Roanoke Valley, checking for drunken drivers. Most localities will use grants from the Federal Highway Commission to pay additional officers to run the checkpoints during the holiday, when roads will be packed with vacationers.
Last year, 11 people were killed on Virginia highways in alcohol-related crashes during the Fourth of July weekend.
State Police Sgt. Hayward F. Wray, who will be in charge of a checkpoint in Bedford County, said the lowered limit "will be a boon to highway safety." Last month, he said, "we had a similar checkpoint in Franklin County, and if the BAC [blood-alcohol content] law had been 0.08, we would've had a minimum of three or four more arrests." Twelve drivers were charged with driving under the influence at that checkpoint.
The law enforcement presence also will be increased on the water this weekend. The Department of Game and Inland Fisheries will pool its resources with the Franklin County Sheriff's Office in patrolling Smith Mountain Lake.
Lt. Karl Martin, a game warden, said he thought the new blood-alcohol level would result in more arrests on the lake. He urged holiday boaters who will be drinking to "choose a designated driver early on."
Other changes in the law include zero tolerance for drivers under the age of 21. For those drivers, a blood-alcohol level of 0.02 percent - equivalent to drinking one beer, or less - can result in a $500 fine and a six-month driver's license suspension.
Anyone caught driving with a license that was suspended for an alcohol-related offense will have his or her vehicle immediately impounded for 30 days. The court can impound the vehicle for an additional 90 days if the person is convicted.
Brenda Altman, chairwoman of the Smith Mountain Lake region of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, lobbied for the changes and hopes they will result in a reduction of holiday traffic deaths this year.
"It just seems a lot of people drink more over a holiday," she said. ``More parties occur; more people drink and drive.''
Her MADD chapter has members in the Roanoke Valley and Lynchburg. MADD is a co-sponsor of National Sobriety Checkpoint Week, and its members will aid officers at checkpoints this weekend.
Virginia now has probably "the toughest DUI laws in the country,'' House of Delegates Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, said at a recent Blue Ridge Community Traffic Safety Board meeting.
``A lot of people say to me, `0.08 cuts out the social drinker who has a drink after work,''' Cranwell, a lawyer, said. ``But the difference between 0.10 and 0.08 is probably a half a drink.''
The average person, he said, can have about three drinks during happy hour and still be under the limit.
But Brenda Vaccarelli, vice chairwoman of MADD in Virginia, said there are too many variables - such as weight, food intake, tolerance and even state of mind - for a person to guess how many drinks he or she can consume before driving.
``The best thing is, if you're going to drink, don't drive,'' she said.
The Associated Press provided some information for this story.
Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994
by CNB