The General Assembly convened earlier today for its short session. While lawmakers’ primary focus doubtless will be the state budget, the legislature may again consider ways to address the persistent problem of impaired driving. Among the bills eligible for consideration this session is House Bill 41, which would amend the State’s license restoration laws to prohibit anyone convicted of impaired driving from driving with any measurable alcohol concentration for three years after the person’s driver’s license is restored. Current law sets that threshold at 0.04 for first-time offenders. See G.S. 20-17.8. Notwithstanding the severity of the sanctions for driving while impaired, the cost of such convictions, and the myriad of collateral consequences (ranging from license revocation to vehicle seizure), the percentage of driving fatalities involving alcohol impairment in North Carolina was higher in 2012 (the latest year for which statistics are available) than in any of the four previous years. The percentage of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities per vehicle miles traveled likewise increased in 2012, matching the rate from two years earlier. Robeson and Columbus Counties continue to be among the counties with the highest rate per population of fatalities in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers in the state. Of course, the intractability of the impaired driving problem is not limited to our state. There was a similar uptick in alcohol-impaired driving fatalities nationwide. So what’s the solution? It goes without saying that it isn’t obvious or simple. There, are, however, a handful of new reports that policy makers might find helpful. The American [...]
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