DUI Arrests are Repeat Offenders

Friday, May 8th, 2009

A recent study published in Denver Post found that out of the drivers charged with DUI every year in Colorado, 10,000 have already been arrested for the same offense. In fact, from 2005-2007, the unique offenders are just above 31,000. This means that there is roughly one out of three drunk drivers repeating their offense and habitually breaking the law.

Out of the 10,000 drunk drivers, these are also true:

· 5,679 had three prior offenses

· 84 had 10 offenses

· 5 had over 20 offenses

The city of Colorado did some steps to combat this issue. One of them is dropping the DUI threshold from .08 to .10. However, there was little improvement that occurred since 2004.

Now, there are some discussions taking place in the state. Organizations such as MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) have been lobbying for a change in Colorado’s laws.

Therefore, lawmakers plan to make drunk driving as a felony offense after several occurrences. In other states, this is already being done – sending convicted drunk drivers to jail after a certain number of offenses. However, Colorado has no limit to the DUI charges that you can obtain in your lifetime. The state has attributed this issue to budget problems.

Tags: Colorado, Denver Post, drunk drivers, dui, law, MADD
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