THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 26, 1994 TAG: 9412260078
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines
You know the routine. The holidays are here, and partying is a must. But there's always someone who has one drink too many and then gets behind the wheel.
You've been warned for decades about that one drink too many. And you've been shocked over and over by the suffering it can cause on the highways.
Starting Jan. 1, Virginia will try something new. It will allow a police officer to take your license on the spot if you are driving while intoxicated.
The state can keep your license for seven days. It will be returned to you after that time, even if you have not appeared in court.
How do you qualify as a drunken driver?
If you register a 0.08 blood-alcohol content on a roadside breath test, the law says you're drunk. If that's so, the arresting officer will bring you before a magistrate, but the officer does not have to return your license.
Swift action - swifter than Virginia law ever has allowed.
``It's a shocking effect to lose your license immediately,'' said state Sen. Ken Stolle, a Virginia Beach lawyer who helped sponsor the law.
Administrative license revocation is the second major step in new legislation that began last July when the illegal blood-alcohol level was lowered from 0.10 to 0.08.
Stolle said he's not sure whether the seven-day revocation is long enough.
``What we have to look at is whether or not we're going to increase the period of suspension,'' he said. ``I would have preferred a 90- or 30-day.''
Stolle, a former police sergeant, said he pushed for the law because he knows all too well the dangers of driving drunk.
``I'm absolutely convinced that the passage of that bill will save lives in Virginia,'' he said.
In 1993, the last year for which statistics are available, there were 397 DUI-related deaths on Virginia roads, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Hampton Roads registered 90 of those deaths.
During that same year, 12,854 crashes statewide involved drunken drivers. Hampton Roads had 3,541 of those.
An alcohol-related collision is completely preventable, said DMV spokeswoman Mary Ann Rayment. The new law will make drinkers think more about the consequences of not preventing an accident.
``At 0.10 you are already significantly impaired,'' Rayment said. ``You might not be falling down at 0.08, but . . . your ability to make sound judgments quickly is impaired.''
On average, a 150-pound person with an empty stomach would need four drinks in one hour to reach 0.08, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Three drinks in one hour will bring a 120-pounder to that point, while a 180-pound person needs five drinks to reach the 0.08 level and a 200-pound drinker needs 5.5, according to the department.
For these numbers, a drink is equivalent to a 5-ounce glass of wine, 1 1/2 shots of liquor or a 12-ounce beer.
Officials caution that these numbers are only estimates. A person's weight, gender and stomach contents are some of the factors to consider.
Supporters of the new law say it is too early to tell whether lowering the illegal blood alcohol level has had an effect on the number of DUI arrests.
``I haven't seen any indication that shows any type of impact that it's had or not had. We need to wait at least a year,'' Stolle said.
Lillian DeVenney, president of Virginians Opposing Drunk Driving, said her organization lobbied for the law because of the number of delayed drunken driving cases. Often, she said, drivers who had been charged remained on the streets.
``We felt this ploy must be attacked,'' said DeVenney, of Virginia Beach. ``It would at least alleviate these problems and ease the case load.''
DeVenney, whose 21-year-old daughter, Carrie, was killed 15 years ago by a drunken driver, said administrative license revocation will affect a broad spectrum of drivers.
``It's the most significant piece of drunk-driving legislation to come out of the legislative body, '' she said. ``I'm overjoyed, and I won't deny we've had some hand in it.''
DeVenney said her group will be watching the effectiveness of the new law.
``We have our work cut out for us,'' she said. ``We must monitor the total system. We know there will be some rough spots. There's many things that need yet to be done.'' ILLUSTRATION: ROADSIDE TEST
IF you register a 0.08 blood-alcohol content, you're legally drunk.
THEN your driver's license can be taken away immediately, and it can
be kept for up to seven days.
KEYWORDS: DRUNK DRIVING LAW < by CNB