LOCKE SIGNS BILLS MAKING STATE TOUGHEST ON DRUNKEN DRIVERS

OLYMPIA -- Gov. Gary Locke, joining Washington lawmakers Monday in a
crackdown on drunken driving, signed a package of 13 bills that attack the
killer problem with a variety of approaches.

The new laws, which one sponsor called America's toughest, will bring
tougher penalties, fewer deferred prosecutions, a lower blood-alcohol
level, automatic license suspension even before going to court, an ignition
interlock requirement for some drivers and impoundment of some motorists'
vehicles.

Locke called the new laws "truly the highlight of bipartisan cooperation in
this last legislative session." Drunken driving was the dominant crime
issue of the election-year session, prompted in part by high-visibility
road carnage.

Lawmakers from both parties and representatives of law enforcement,
prosecutors, judges, Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other groups also
joined Locke at a bill-signing ceremony at the Capitol.

Keith Johnsen, the Issaquah man whose wife, Mary, was killed by a drunken
driver, attended the signing. He said passage of the new laws takes some of
the sting out of his grief.

"I suppose it is a part of my healing," he told reporters. He called it a
bittersweet moment, saying he's glad something good came of his family's
tragedy.

Locke said if the bills save even one life, it's all worth it.

In 1996, the most recent year for which figures are available, 336 people
died in Washington of injuries from alcohol-related accidents and drunks
caused more than 12,000 accidents and did more than $500 million in
property damage.

Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, chairwoman of the Senate Law & Justice Committee,
called the legislation "a great day for this state -- an incredible
bipartisan response to the problem." She called it "easily the highlight of
my legislative career."

Roach said experts predict the measures will save at least 60 lives a year
in Washington, most through the bill lowering the maximum permissible
blood-alcohol level from .10 to .08 percent.

She said Washington now has the toughest, most comprehensive laws to combat
drunken driving.

"It's a real attack on a number of fronts," said Sen. Adam Kline,
D-Seattle, who used to lobby for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and whose
law office is sometimes filled with people who were hurt by drunken drivers.

"I won't say it changes the culture (so that people stop driving while
drunk), but I do feel a lot better today. I feel more optimistic," he said
in an interview.

Democrat Locke, who once prosecuted DUI crimes when he was a young King
County prosecutor, said the package "will strengthen our laws against drunk
driving on all fronts, from the highways to the courthouse to jails to the
prisons and to the treatment centers."

He summarized the practical impact of the bills this way:

"If you drink and drive, what we are telling you is we are going to take
away your driver's license immediately. We're going to send you to jail and
after we send you to jail, we're going to send you home for electronic
detention with an ankle bracelet.

"And we're also going to put an interlock device on your car so you can't
start it unless you've blown into it and have demonstrated you're free of
alcohol. And then we're only going to give you one chance, and one chance
only, to get treatment and avoid all these consequences."

It will be costly for the drunken driver in a number of ways. For the
motorists to get their driver's licenses back will cost $150 -- up from the
current $50 -- with local governments getting the extra revenue to help
offset increased costs. Vehicles can be impounded if the motorists were
driving without valid licenses due to DUI or other violations.

Other costs would include chemical dependency treatment and the costs of a
trial.

Most of the measures take effect in January.

Copyright © 1998 Associated Pres