“The fatal crashes are sparking a new urgency in Olympia to revive house bill HB 1482, a tough drunk driving reform bill that was stalled and seemed doomed this legislative session until the recent crashes gave it new life,” reports KING 5’s Linda Byron, quoting Governor Jay Inslee as saying drunk drivers were ” just like terrorists walking around with a bomb in their trunk.”
It should feel like good news, but taking action after people are dead is never good news. And the sad fact is that there’s nothing that unusual about the most recent fatalities. A quick visit to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission‘s site to inspect the data shows that since 2007, about 200 people per year have been killed statewide in “impaired ability” collisions. 213 people killed in 2007, 175 people buried in 2011. Generally, twice the number of total House members, for comparison.
That’s the number of dead citizens the House’s Rules Committee was apparently comfortable with when, on February 19, HB 1482 was passed to them for a second reading and never made it to the floor calendar. But now, because of three deaths — Dennis Schulte and Judith Schulte, and Morgan Williams — drunk driving is suddenly an emergency. Bill sponsor Rep. Roger Goodman (D-45th) hopes now to get the bill attached to the budget, as a workaround, since it missed getting the second reading that would allow it to proceed toward a final vote.
Goodman’s bill specifically closes loopholes that allows for repeat offenders to get behind the wheel, as was with the case with the three recent deaths. Mark W. Mullan, the driver that police say hit and killed the Schultes, not only had a history of five DUIs, but in had been in jail in Seattle for a DUI charge while another was pending in Snohomish County. Mullan, a man with an extensive history of chronic drug and alcohol abuse to go with his DUIs, was credited with time served and fined and told he’d need to install an ignition interlock device if he wanted to drive.
Though HB 1482 tries to address current failures — it expands what’s considered a previous offense; pushes for more active monitoring (through ignition interlock devices); stiffens sentences for things like driving the wrong way while intoxicated, or driving with a minor in the car; and lets municipalities set up DUI courts to deal with the extra courtroom “traffic” — it’s also evidence of the insidiousness of dependency. That is, our dependency on cars for transportation, which of course The Onion has already satirized: “Report: It Pretty Incredible That Americans Entrusted With Driving Cars.”
At a minimum, otherwise, you might think that all first offenses should require a police-installed ignition interlock device. (Or, if automakers are willing to equip cars with biometric sensors, why not ask that they all check for BAC?) Instead, KING 5’s story notes, “One addition to HB 1482 under discussion would make a third DUI a felony offense — instead of waiting for number five — a change that carries a hefty price tag.” (A third? A hefty price tag? Remember, Mullan was fined $2,025 in Seattle, and posted a $2,500 bond in Snohomish.)
In the meantime, the DUI incidents just keep coming.
