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

DATE: FRIDAY, May 27, 1994                   TAG: 9406020043
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

DUI

EVIDENCE of a steady decline in highway deaths caused by drunken drivers is cold comfort to family members, including many in this area, who have buried loved ones killed by drivers under the influence.

But in large measure, these family members can take pride in the 15-year statistical trend. In their grief and fury, they've been on the rampage - have, through organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, aggressively demanded tougher laws on drunken driving. They've been the impetus for widespread public-service media campaigns, and helped produce a major reversal in social attitudes toward intoxication. They have, as a result, helped save thousands of lives.

We all can be grateful for recent National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports indicating that deaths caused by drunken drivers

were at a record low in 1992, the last year for which figures are available. Highway officials expect '93 figures will show a further decline.

Even bedrock libertarians who resent government intervention in their affairs should be glad that government has intervened here - with more than 1,200 anti-drunken-driving laws on the books aimed at stopping the highway menaces. Some 44 states now mandate prison time for any driver twice convicted of DUI. All states prohibit alcohol sales to anyone under 21.

And at least 36 states - Virginia included as of July 1, when its new anti-drunken-driving laws go into effect - confiscate the license, on the spot, of any motorist arrested for driving under the influence. Highway-safety officials believe this may be the most effective legal step for controlling the drunken-driving problem.

So the statistics reflect progress. Jay Weinsten, a Harvard University researcher, says the 15-year record on combatting drunken driving is comparable to that made against heart disease.

No one, though, should be fooled into thinking the problem is solved. In 1992, 22 percent of drivers involved in fatal crashes had been drinking. That's down from previous years - but still an unacceptably high figure, accounting for 17,500 deaths.

And enforcement is still variable, at times spotty. Witness a judge's strange decision this week to dismiss a DUI charge against the son of state House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell, after indicating at an earlier hearing that he'd found sufficient evidence to convict the 29-year-old.

The battle against drunken driving has seen great success, but it must continue.

by CNB