Study Focuses on Hard-Core Drunk Drivers

A study of hard-core drunk drivers--repeat offenders whose blood-alcohol level is twice that allowed by law--has found that such people may drive under the influence more than 1,000 times before they are caught and stopped.

John C. Lawn, chairman of the Los Angeles-based Century Council, an anti-drunk driving group funded by leading distillers, said the finding, although disturbing, was not a surprise to police or offenders.

“We found that the hard-core offender drives drunk for years, has heard all the warnings and just ignores them,” said Lawn, a former official of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The study, aimed at drivers with whom mere DUI education has not been effective, was received with mixed feelings by local anti-drunk driving advocates. They said they applaud any indictment of repeat DUI offenders. But, they added, they worry that the distiller-funded study suggests that casual drinkers are a lesser threat.

“If a person at an office party drinks one too many and gets out there and drives, their very same behavior can be as destructive as repeat offenders and big-time drinkers,” said Reidel Post, executive director of the local chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Concerted awareness programs put in place in the early 1980s are credited for greatly reducing the number of alcohol-related deaths and crashes. Now that the word has spread about the dangers of impaired driving, Lawn said, the next front in the battle is repeat offenders.

California law defines driving under the influence as having a blood-alcohol level of 0.08% or higher, which for a 180-pound person can be reached by drinking four 12-ounce beers in two hours.

A far higher level was often present in fatal crashes nationwide, the study found. Among drivers who were drinking before they died in 1995 crashes, 65% had a blood-alcohol level of 0.15% or greater, the study found.

“These are not casual drinkers,” Lawn said.