Since moving here from the Chicago suburbs last fall, I’ve become accustomed to most of Wisconsin’s quirks. I’m no longer fazed by the strange obsession with cheese. I accept that the Packers are a religion. I’ve gotten used to, and even come to enjoy, the constant political drama. However, I’m still shocked by the frequency with which I see stories in the news about someone being arrested for their fifth, sixth or seventh drunken driving, or DUI, offense. It’s sometimes even more – see this woman, who was convicted of her 14th.
Despite the Legislature passing tougher drunken driving laws in 2009, it remains a serious problem in the state. Although it is a very complex issue, there are two main reasons for the epidemic of DUIs. First, the laws, while tighter than they have previously been, still leave something to be desired. Second, and more importantly, the danger of drunken driving is not fully realized in Wisconsin’s culture.
Wisconsin is the only state in the country that punishes a first drunk driving offense as a traffic ticket rather than an actual crime. Even when offenders are convicted of a felony for a repeat offense, they often end up avoiding any jail time, as found by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. While there’s something to be said for lenient enforcement of some laws, drunken driving is not one of them. When one offense can result in the death of innocent people, a stronger deterrent is needed. Clearly, the laws still need improving.
The law is not the only problem, though. If everyone truly understood and internalized the dangers of driving drunk, then the law wouldn’t be necessary in the first place. However, addressing issues like drunken driving is difficult because of how thoroughly engrained alcohol is in Wisconsin’s culture. Indeed, Wisconsin’s drinking culture is part of what makes it such a great state. Just because Wisconsinites like to drink, however, doesn’t mean we have to drink and drive. Of course, convincing an entire state to stop doing something is not easy.
Only so much can be done to address the legal side of the issue. Even if the penalties for a DUI are ratcheted up, people will still continue to drink and drive. And regardless of what the law says, there are limits to how effectively it can be enforced. It’s simply not feasible for police to detect every driver who is drunk. In fact, according to the Center for Disease Control, the average person convicted of a DUI will have already driven drunk 80 times before being caught.
Thus, while the laws do need to be changed, the real solution to drunken driving isn’t as simple as passing a law. There needs to be a fundamental change in the way people view the issue. Unfortunately, there’s no easy or predetermined way to do this, and I’m certainly not smart enough to solve the problem. Hopefully a continued discussion will bring the issue to the forefront, yield new solutions and ultimately stop people from driving drunk. Until that happens, innocent people will continue to die in Wisconsin.
Joe Timmerman ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in math and economics.
