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Drunken Driving
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Published: September 5, 2008
The grief of one Forsyth County family over the deaths of two of its sons in what police suspect was an alcohol-related automobile wreck is repeated, unfortunately, all too often in North Carolina. It's time for our state leaders to renew the battle against drunken driving.
As Journal reporter Paul Garber
poignantly conveyed, the mother of 15-year-old Noe and 17-year-old Sergio Marroquin was inconsolable when interviewed after the Tuesday night wreck, which also killed two other young men. But her story is becoming far too common here. The number of North Carolina families that lost loved ones in alcohol-related traffic deaths jumped last year.
North Carolina had the biggest percentage increase in alcohol-fueled wrecks in the nation -- 15.7 percent. In 2006, 421 people died in such wrecks. In 2007, 487. And, while this death count dropped in 32 states, it also rose in two of our neighboring states, Virginia and South Carolina.
The increase has the state Highway Patrol baffled. It goes beyond any simple explanation of population growth or increased use of our highways.
Over the past three decades, North Carolina and the nation have seen traffic fatalities fall. Laws enacted in the 1980s toughened punishment for drunken driving and raised awareness of its dangers.
But these tougher laws, by virtue of the public awareness they generate, are effective mostly in cycles. As proposals are debated in the General Assembly, drivers get a renewed sense of the dangers involved when they drink and drive. Even if they feel invulnerable to a wreck, they worry that the tougher laws could cost them both financially and in their ability to get around.
After the laws have been in place for a while, however, that public awareness begins to wear off. We suspect the dulling of that public consciousness about drunken driving is responsible, in part, for the increased death toll.
Government authorities have been running an aggressive anti-drunken-driving ad campaign on television. This should help. It helps all of us to be constantly reminded of the dangers of driving after a few beers or other drinks. But it might also be time for the legislature to return to the issue and to improve state law.
The easy proposal would be to call for a lower legal blood-alcohol level. And that might be wise. But the legislature must go beyond that. For years, some have advocated much stiffer penalties for those who drive at higher levels of intoxication. It's time to revisit that concept and the severity of both fines and prison terms involved. More public education efforts are also needed.
Drunken-driving fatalities hang like daggers ready to strike at the hearts of all North Carolina families, at any time. We must act decisively to reduce their frequency.
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