Particularly for first offenders, Wisconsin’s legislation regarding driving while under the influence of alcohol is significantly less strict than in other states.
Wisconsin is the only state in the country to consider the first drunken driving offense noncriminal, Leadership Chair of Wisconsin for Mothers Against Drunk Driving John Vose said. The last time DUI legislation was updated in the state was in 2011, when there was requirement for ignition interlocks for repeat offenders, which require a certain blood alcohol level to start a vehicle.
“When someone gets their first drunk driving, it’s not a misdemeanor, it’s certainly not a felony, and there’s no jail time associated with it,” Vose said. “The only exception to that is if a first-time offender has a minor in the car when they get pulled over for drunk driving.”
Wisconsin State Assembly member Rep. Eric Genrich has been working with other legislators to reform the state’s policies.
Genrich said he and other members of the Assembly are in the preliminary stages of investigating potential solutions to drunken driving in the state, and were inspired by an investigative series by the Gannett Wisconsin Media known as Under the Influence.
Genrich said the series pointed to a New York state policy that completely revokes drivers’ licences after the fifth DUI offense.
“That’s not something we have on the books here, there’s not permanent revocation required,” Genrich said. “We felt like that is something which should be looked into at the very least.”
Permanent revocation of licenses has worked well in states other than New York as well, including North Carolina, Oregon and Florida, Genrich said.
Vose said there are even more glaring differences between Wisconsin and other states in terms of DUI laws and polices.
“We are one of very few states that actually outlaws sobriety checkpoints,” Vose said. “Most other states in the country allow law enforcement to use of sobriety checkpoints as a deterrent.”
According a special series by the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team, more than one in three people pulled over for drunken driving in Wisconsin have been convicted before.
Vose said studies have shown ignition interlocks have been proven to work to prevent repeat offenses, and other states are requiring them after the first offense.
According to the Cap Times, Wisconsin is one of the first states to start addressing this issue with a new program that tests hair and fingernail clippings, called alcohol biomarkers, to find out whether the driver is likely to drive drunk in the future.
The biomarkers alert professionals as to whether the perpetrator’s drinking level is at a point where it is a hazard to community, the Cap Times reported.
“We’ve really made strides in recent years reducing the fatalities in drunk driving, but we need to more to make our roads a bit safer,” Genrich said.
Vose said he is not particularly optimistic with regard to legislation being passed that is more strict on people who have been caught driving drunk, especially first offenders. He said the current political climate is much to blame.
“I don’t think the political leadership in Wisconsin recognizes this to be a significant enough problem to warrant action,” Vose said.
