OUR VIEW: Stronger consequences for repeat DWI offenders

Many in the community were saddened to learn that a Woodbury teen was severely injured in an accident late last month allegedly caused by a drunk driver. And many were probably shocked to learn that the man charged with two counts of felony criminal vehicular operation in connection with the Aug. 22 crash was driving while his license was cancelled for a recent alcohol-related driving offense. Or maybe they weren’t.

According to a Star Tribune story published January 24 of this year, nearly 47,000 Minnesota drivers have been arrested at least four times for driving while intoxicated.

It feels like it has become common knowledge that many of those arrested for driving while intoxicated are repeat offenders. So what do you do when someone is convicted of multiple alcohol-related driving offenses, serves time, loses a license and still finds a way to drive drunk? We hope the Legislature can study this issue and come up with this answer: Tougher sentences for those who drive drunk on a suspended or revoked license.

The Legislature has tackled the drunk driving issue many times in the last decade, specifically with passage of a 2001 law that creates stiffer sentences for those convicted with four DWIs in a 10-year period. But apparently that isn’t enough for some.

We believe state officials should study ways to prevent those in the population of convicted drunk drivers from getting access to an automobile to drive while their license is cancelled. It seems as if more prison time for repeat offenders who drive drunk on a canceled license is possibly the only solution to preventing such people from getting on the road and hurting others.

On the enforcement end, police seem to be doing a good job of stepping up their resources to take drunk drivers off the road.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is on pace to increase the number of drunk driving arrests in 2010 from previous years and attributes the increase in arrests to a greater focus on patrolling for drunken driving and an increase in DWI-prevention law enforcement programs.

But there’s a significant difference between taking drunk drivers off the road and keeping them from getting on the road in the first place. And in the case of those who don’t respond to the consequences, it’s likely those consequences will just have to get tougher. That’s our hope, anyway.

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