Danielle RyanA local state senator said he believes a bill that would intensify penalties for drunken driving is a step in the right direction for Wisconsin.
“I think it’s a good step to not only increase enforcement, but increase access to treatment so that we have fewer repeat offenders on the road,” state Sen. Pat Kreitlow (D-Chippewa Falls) said of the bill, which passed unanimously with one abstention in the Senate on Nov. 5.
The bill would increase fines and sentences imposed for operating vehicles while intoxicated. In some cases, fines could be five times greater than current laws allow, and possible sentences could be significantly extended.
Current penalties for a first-offense OWI, in which the offender has a minor passenger in the vehicle, include a $300 to $600 fine. Bills passed in both the Senate and Assembly would increase that fine to between $350 and $1,100, as well as impose a five-day to six-month jail sentence.
A fourth OWI offense currently warrants a $600 to $2,000 fine and a 60-day to one-year sentence, but the Senate bill would increase those to a $600 to $10,000 fine and a sentence of between six months and six years.
Students said they thought the OWI laws should be stricter in Wisconsin, noting that drunk driving is a problem in the state.
“I don’t know the details of the laws, but I know that they should be stricter because I know a lot of people end up getting them and having a little jail time and going back and doing the same thing,” senior Courtney Carlson said.
Currently, second- and third-time offenders in Winnebago County can get alternative, reduced sentences if they complete alcohol and drug treatment. The Senate and Assembly bill would extend that option to all counties that have programs similar to Winnebago County’s.
Wisconsin has the highest drunk driving rate in the United States and had more than 42,000 drunk driving convictions in 2008, according to the state Department of Transportation. Alcohol-related crashes killed 234 people and injured more than 4,000 people in Wisconsin in 2008, according to the department.
“Wisconsin can’t continually point to the fact that we have a cultural connection to alcohol and say that, ‘Well, we can’t deal with this problem,'” said Jeff Buhrandt, a spokesman in Kreitlow’s office. “We’ve seen it become more and more of a public safety issue. We have to step up and do something about it.”
The bill has also received strong support in the Assembly, which passed its version of the bill in September.
Buhrandt said the two houses must work out differences in their respective bills before the legislation goes to Gov. Jim Doyle for a signature. Buhrandt said he expects that could be as soon as early next year.
He said, “We fully expect that we’ll be able to make the final move on this this spring.”
