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Article published Feb 7, 2005
Lawmakers should repair a DUI law so poorly written it can't be
used
South Carolina lawmakers should heed the governor's call
to fix the state's drunken driving law.The law was supposedly strengthened in
2003. The General Assembly was under pressure from Congress to adopt a .08
blood-alcohol level law or lose some of the state's federal highway revenue.The
bill was supposed to be a "per se" law. Instead of outlawing intoxication while
driving, which can be difficult to prove in court, it was supposed to simply
outlaw driving with a blood-alcohol level of more than .08 percent.Lawmakers
passed the bill, but they included so many compromises and loopholes that they
that prosecutors say the law isn't worth using. They prefer to prosecute drunken
drivers under the old law.The law was supposed to be simple. It was supposed to
state clearly that it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle on South Carolina's
roads with a blood-alcohol level higher than .08 percent.But that kind of
clarity isn't helpful to some lawmakers who make their living defending drunken
drivers in court. A clear law leaves little room for legal maneuvers and
obfuscation.So they included a number of defenses in the law that weaken and
practically invalidate the per se standard. They wanted to be able to introduce
evidence on their clients' state of intoxication. But the per se law was
intended to get around those courtroom debates over how drunk the defendant
was.A per se law should set a clear standard that tells people: Don't drink and
drive. It should send a message to those who do drink and drive that if they get
caught driving with a .08 blood-alcohol level they will be convicted regardless
of how sober they thought they were.The loopholes placed in the law are good for
criminal defense lawyers. But they are deadly for those who travel on the
state's roads.South Carolina lawmakers should be looking out for the people of
the state, working to make our roads safer, working to get drunken drivers off
those roads.To do that, they need to fix the .08 law and remove the loopholes.
They also need to pass laws that establish more strict penalties for second,
third and subsequent offenses of driving under the influence so that routine
drunken drivers are taken off the roads before they kill someone.In his State of
the State address, Gov. Mark Sanford urged lawmakers to look past the desires of
defense lawyers and fix the per se law. Lawmakers should remember their duty to
their constituents and do so.