A fatal hit-and-run accident on Madison’s north side Monday evening has provided yet another example of Wisconsin’s historically high drunken driving rate.

A 51-year old Madison woman driving under the influence of alcohol struck and killed an unidentified young female pedestrian at 4:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, a Madison Police Department report said.

The driver first struck the victim, who was not carrying any form of identification at the time of the accident, and then continued on to strike a guard rail and a parked car before she finally crashed her car into a tree, MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain said. The Madison Fire Department was later called to the scene to extract the driver.

The suspect is under police guard at the hospital while being treated for non-life threatening injuries sustained during the crash, DeSpain said. 

When the suspect is in better medical condition, police will likely arrest her on a variety of tentative charges, possibly including homicide by intoxicated use of a vehicle, DeSpain said. 

DeSpain added Madison sees intoxicated drivers involved in accidents at all times of the day, causing MPD officers to consistently be on guard for drunken drivers who could be threatening public safety.

“Unfortunately we see intoxicated drivers at all times of the day,” DeSpain said. “You will of course see a higher instance of [drunken drivers] late at night and into the after bar-time hours, but we certainly experience them at any time.”

DeSpain said the woman who was driving the vehicle Monday is now facing her fourth operating while intoxicated offense, which he said is in some cases considered a felony in Wisconsin.

Ismael Ozanne, Dane County District Attorney, said Act 100, which took effect in June, would make a forth offense OWI a felony if the offender received the fourth violation within five years of the other offenses.

Ozanne said statistics show Dane County has a large drop-off rate for first and second time offenders, but third and fourth offenses have a higher repetition rate.

“[Regardless of whether a repeat offender is driving,] the seriousness of OWIs is comparable to taking a cannon and firing it into a crowd – you can hit someone and kill them, or you can miss everyone,” Ozanne said. “The problem you have is that most people who are caught driving [under the influence] have driven a number of times before getting caught.”

Ozanne said studies show most offenders are first caught after driving drunk about 100 times previously.