Effective Measures to Prevent Drunk Driving

Preventing drunk driving is perhaps one of the most important initiatives in the country. Thousands of people are killed each year because they or other drivers on the road choose to get behind the wheel after having one too many. When it comes to measures to put an end to drunk driving, many things have been tried. Some have worked, and some have proven ineffective.

Effective Measures to Curb Drunk Driving

One of the best ways that law enforcement has used to curb drunk driving is simply to ramp up their enforcement. Instead of hoping to stumble upon a drunk driver, many agencies across the country pay specialized teams of enforcers. These specially-trained officers work on task forces that are designed and trained to spot drunk drivers and get them off of the road.

Sobriety checkpoints have often been proven effective. While it is mandated that these checkpoints must be announced well ahead of time, it seems that people either don’t hear about them or forget about them.

In some states, DUI courts have replaced criminal courts for drunk driving offenders. People who go through these systems are sentenced to rehabilitation in lieu of jail time. Treatment programs have been shown to be effective in not only getting drunks off of the road, but helping to make sure that they are also cured of their alcohol addiction.

When people are hit where it hurts, they pay attention. A method that has been proven effective in removing drunk drivers from the road is immediately taking away the driver’s license of anyone who is caught driving under the influence. This is often enough to cause a hardship to people that they do not want to deal with again.

Measures Being Investigated

One measure being considered in the effort to reduce drunk driving is to reduce the legal blood alcohol content threshold from 0.08% to 0.05%. This, however, does require more research before it is implemented. While it is known that lowering the legal limit will cause more drivers to be charged with drunk driving, it is unlikely that it would put a significant dent in the crime.

A second consideration being investigated is requiring, by law, a blood test any time a crash results in an injury. Again, this may result in more charges and a higher conviction rate, but it is unknown at this time what kind of effect it would have on preventing people from getting behind the wheel.

If you have been injured in a car accident caused by a drunk driver, you may be entitled to more compensation than the insurance companies have offered you. Call our personal injury attorneystoday and allow us to review the details of your case at no cost to you. Call now.

Posted In: Drunk Driving