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'Booze It & Lose It' Nets 1,401 Impaired Driving Arrests During First Week of Campaign

1 December 1999

'Booze It & Lose It' Nets 1,401 Impaired Driving Arrests During First Week of Campaign

        New DWI Laws Effective Today; Victims of Traffic Crashes to Be
                            Remembered at Ceremony

    RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 1 -- enforcement
officers are out in full force as part of the Fall "Booze It & Lose It"
campaign to remind motorists that impaired driving will not be tolerated
anywhere in the state.
    Sobriety checkpoints and roving patrols across the state netted 1,401
driving while impaired (DWI) charges between Nov. 19-29.  The campaign
continues through Dec. 5, and law enforcement in communities across the state
are continuing to strictly enforce North Carolina's DWI laws.
    Several changes in the state's DWI law changes go into effect today.  They
include:

    -- Underage Drinking: Beer and wine drinking by 19- or 20-year-olds is now
a misdemeanor.  It previously was an infraction.
    -- Possession of Alcohol in a Commercial Motor Vehicle: Possession of an
unopened or open container of alcohol in a commercial motor vehicle is an
infraction. (This does not apply to excursion passenger vehicles, for-hire
passenger vehicles, or motor homes if the alcoholic beverage is in the
possession of a passenger or is in the passenger area.)
    -- Results From Alcohol Screening Devices Admissible: Alcohol screening
devices, such as the Alco-Sensor, are admissible to prove the presence of
alcohol but not a particular alcohol concentration.  As such, results are
admissible to establish probable cause; to prove drinking in an open container
case; and/or to prove drinking in an under-age-21 case.  (Remember, an
Intoxilyzer test or blood test is required to prove a particular alcohol
concentration.)

    In addition, North Carolina now can seize the vehicle of a driver whose
license is revoked by another state, if the revocation is for an offense that
is "substantially" similar to one -- if committed in North Carolina -- would
make the vehicle subject to seizure.  This would apply to a DWI violation
charged to an out-of-state driver whose license has been revoked for a
previous DWI.
    A new law targeting repeat DWI offenders will go into effect July 1, 2000.
It will lower the alcohol concentration (AC) from 0.08 to 0.04 for those who
have been convicted of one DWI and have had their license reinstated.  Chronic
offenders will also be targeted by the new law, which will lower the legal AC
to 0.00 for those who have been convicted of a second DWI and have had their
license reinstated.
    Besides charging impaired drivers, law enforcement officers at "Booze It &
Lose It" checkpoints and random patrols issued 2,810 seat belt and 330 child
safety seat citations.  They also discovered 6,325 other traffic violations
and 1,378 total criminal violations, including 128 felony drug charges, 47
firearms violations, and 9 fugitives from justice.
    Victims of 1998 North Carolina traffic crashes will be remembered during
ceremonies to begin at 5 p.m. today at the State Capitol in Raleigh.  The
GHSP's second annual "Tree of Life" will be illuminated with 1,596 lights to
honor those killed on North Carolina roadways.  About one-third of the lights
will be red to distinguish those killed in alcohol-related crashes.  Those 496
individuals and their families will be remembered during Mothers Against Drunk
Drinking's annual Candlelight Vigil, which will conclude the tree-lighting
event with a somber, candlelit walk to the State Museum of History.  MADD's
yearly awards ceremony will follow in the museum auditorium.