Third of Drunk Drivers Repeat Offenders : Safety: Of the 1 million DUI arrests, 320,570 had been arrested for driving under the influence before, study finds.

One-third of the people arrested each year for drunk driving have been arrested before for the same offense, according to a federal study.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention joined with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in examining statistics from seven states that count previous DUI arrests.

Of the 1,010,054 DUI arrests studied, 320,570 people had been previously arrested for driving under the influence, they found. The percentage of repeat DUI offenders ranged from 21% in Iowa to 48% in New Mexico.

“We’re not surprised at all by that figure,” said Beckie Brown, national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which led the grass-roots war that inspired tougher legislation against drivers convicted of DUI.

She said she believes the figure is actually higher, because many states wipe clean an offender’s record after a certain time frame. Those arrests wouldn’t be included in the new study, she said.

“We call on all states to get rid of time frames for drunk driving,” she said.

Last year, a number of states moved to combat the problem of repeat drunk driving offenders, according to Jim Fell of the federal highway agency. Five states introduced bills to confiscate vehicles of repeat offenders, 15 others are considering bills to expand penalties and five others may increase prison sentences, he said.

Most state legislatures are not in session now, and Fell said he does not know the status of the bills.

“There’s a lot of concern in the states--as there should be,” he said. “The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants states to combine more severe penalties with improvements in alcohol treatment.”

Young men and those who had a history of traffic violations were the most likely to repeat the offense, according to the Oct. 20 report, which did not provide a breakdown on those arrested for DUI.

The 1% of the nation’s licensed drivers arrested each year for drunk driving are at a greater risk of being involved in a fatal crash. More than half of those arrested on DUI charges have severe alcohol problems, said Dr. Robert Brewer of the CDC.

“These are startling statistics,” Brewer said. “We feel this suggests the need for states to enact stricter laws” governing legal limits for alcohol intoxication, mandatory substance-abuse programs and penalties for those breaking DUI laws.

The standard for legal intoxication in 45 states is a blood-alcohol content of .10%, which for a 160-pound man translates into five drinks within an hour on an empty stomach. In California, the standard is stricter: .08%.

The country is making headway in some areas of alcohol-related highway safety, previous studies have shown.

In 1982, alcohol accounted for 57.2% of the 43,945 traffic fatalities. But a decade later, that dropped to 45% of the 39,500 road deaths, according to the NHTSA.

The states providing statistics for the latest study were Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina and Ohio.