"Alcohol-related roadway deaths in California have shot up by more than 50% in the past decade - an increase more than twice as steep as the rest of the country, federal estimates show. More than 1,300 people die each year statewide in drunken collisions. Thousands more are injured. Again and again, repeat DUI offenders cause the crashes. To understand why so many people are dying under the wheels of drunk and drugged drivers,"
"We found that California has some of the weakest DUI laws in the country, allowing repeat drunk and drugged drivers to stay on the road with little punishment. Here, drivers generally can't be charged with a felony until their fourth DUI within 10 years, unless they injure someone. In some states, a second DUI can be a felony. California too often fails to differentiate between drunk drivers who made a dangerous mistake but learn from it and those who refuse to stop endangering lives."
"Sarah Villar, a pediatric physical therapist, was out walking the dog with her fiance in San Benito County when a drunk driver swerved off the road and killed her in 2021. The driver had been convicted of driving drunk in 2018, 2019 and again in 2020 - all misdemeanors - and served just a couple weeks behind bars before the fatal crash."
Alcohol-related roadway deaths in California rose by more than 50% over the past decade, an increase more than twice the national rate. More than 1,300 people die annually in drunken collisions and thousands more sustain injuries. Repeat DUI offenders are a leading cause of fatal crashes. California's legal framework typically treats DUI as a misdemeanor until a fourth offense within 10 years unless someone is injured, while some other states can charge a second DUI as a felony. Criminal penalties and enforcement practices allow many repeat offenders to remain on the road with minimal punishment.
Read at Kqed
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]