Lawmakers Consider New Drunk Driving Bill
20 April 1999
Highway Safety Campaign Continues as Lawmakers Consider New Drunk Driving Bill
North Carolina's Weekend 'Booze It & Lose It' Checkpoints Net 96 DWI Charges
RALEIGH, N.C., April 19 -- North Carolina's "Booze It & Lose
It" program continues as law enforcement officers statewide step up
enforcement of impaired driving laws and promote safe motoring. At the same
time, members of the General Assembly are preparing to consider a new bill
that would make it easier for law enforcement to take impaired drivers,
especially repeat offenders, off the road.
"Law enforcement officers all over the state will be cracking down on
impaired drivers," Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker said at Friday's "Booze It & Lose
It" kickoff at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center in Charlotte. "The
fact is tragedies from drunk driving can occur any time of the year -- not
just during the holidays. We want people to know that law enforcement
officers will be out stopping drunk drivers no matter what the season."
Law enforcement in communities across the state continue to strictly
enforce North Carolina's driving-while-impaired (DWI) laws. Sobriety
checkpoints in Asheville, Charlotte, Greensboro, Greenville, Raleigh and
Wilmington netted 96 DWI arrests over the weekend of April 16-18.
Besides charging impaired drivers, law enforcement officers at these
checkpoints issued 49 seat belt and 15 child safety seat citations. They also
discovered 385 other traffic violations and 69 total criminal violations,
including six felony drug charges, five firearms violations, and one fugitive
from justice. Additional checkpoints and roving patrols will be conducted by
law enforcement across the state throughout the campaign, which continues
through May 2.
State lawmakers are considering a bill, introduced last week, that would
establish lower breath-alcohol levels for repeat offenders. After a first
offense, a person could not drive with a breath-alcohol content (BAC) greater
than 0.04 for a period of seven years. After a second offense, a person is
restricted to a zero-tolerance, of 0.00 BAC, for a period of seven years.
Other parts of the bill would require an ignition interlock for repeat
offenders and drivers with a BAC level over 0.16, strengthen the open
container law, and close a loophole in the under-age 21 drinking law. The
bill would allow the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, the so-called "eye
sobriety test," to be admissible in court, and it would make the result of the
preliminary breath-testing device admissible as proof of evidence in cases
dealing with the violation of a limited driving privilege.
The following are the citations issued by law enforcement officers at
"Booze It & Lose It" sobriety checkpoints in six locations the weekend of
April 16-18:
Other
DWI Occupant Restraint Traffic Violations
Driving Child Total
While Safety Other
Checkpoint Impaired Seat Belt Seat Traffic
Locations Violations Violations Violations Speeding Violations
Asheville/ 13 13 4 15 99
Buncombe
County
Charlotte/ 29 24 5 0 121
Mecklenburg
County
Greenville/ 6 4 4 0 23
Pitt County
Greensboro/ 10 2 1 1 26
Guilford
County
Raleigh/Wake 11 0 0 0 53
County
Wilmington/ 27 6 1 15 63
New Hanover
County
Total 96 49 15 31 385
Criminal Violations
Other
Checkpoint Misdemeanor Felony Stolen Criminal
Location Drug Drug Firearm Vehicles Fugitives Violations
Violations Violations Violations Recovered Arrested Not Listed
Asheville/ 5 5 5 0 0 21
Buncombe
County
Charlotte/ 5 2 2 0 0 3
Mecklenburg
County
Greenville/ 4 0 1 0 0 1
Pitt County
Greensboro/ 1 1 0 0 0 0
Guilford
County
Raleigh/Wake 6 0 1 0 0 7
County
Wilmington/ 11 2 0 0 1 2
New Hanover
County
Total 32 6 5 0 1 34
Total
Total Traffic &
Checkpoint Criminal Criminal
Location Violations Violations
Asheville/ 28 157
Buncombe
County
Charlotte/ 14 193
Mecklenburg
County
Greenville/ 6 43
Pitt County
Greensboro/ 2 41
Guilford
County
Raleigh/Wake 14 78
County
Wilmington/ 5 102
New Hanover
County
Total 69 614
Weekly statewide and county-by-county "Booze It & Lose It" totals will be
released on April 28 and May 3.