
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, February 11, 1994                   TAG: 9402110138
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

TOUGH DUI BILL PASSES HOUSE

Legislation that would swiftly punish people arrested for drunken driving is on its way to the Senate after winning overwhelming approval Thursday in the House of Delegates.

The House voted 91-8 to pass Majority Leader Richard Cranwell's bill to crack down on drunken drivers. The bill would:

Lower from 0.10 to 0.08 percent the blood-alcohol level required to press a charge of drunken driving.

Require a six-month license suspension for any driver under 21 who registers 0.02 percent on a blood-alcohol test.

Immediately suspend for seven days the license of anyone arrested for driving under the influence.

Require authorities to impound for 30 days the car of anyone caught driving drunk on a license suspended for a previous DUI conviction.

There was no debate on the bill Thursday. However, some legislators have complained that immediate license suspension amounts to conviction without a trial. Others said the impoundment provision would punish spouses and children of drunken drivers.

Cranwell, D-Roanoke County, said the bill would give Virginia one of the toughest DUI laws in the nation. Ten other states have a 0.08 percent blood-alcohol threshold, and 35 provide for administrative license suspension.

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

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