NCJ Number
95532
Journal
Northern Kentucky Law Review Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (1984) Pages: 161-181
Date Published
1984
Length
21 pages
Annotation
Although Ohio's 1983 amendment to its law governing drunk driving may not have the needed deterrent effect and contains inherent practical and procedural problems, it indicates a growing awareness of the extent of the drinking/driving problem.
Abstract
Most modern American legislation dealing with drunk driving is based on the Scandanavian model, which uses a blood alcohol content (BAC) standard, even though its deterrent effect is dubious. Ohio's former drunk driving legislation failed to define driving while intoxicated in terms of a specific BAC and did not define the meaning of driving under the influence of alcohol. Other problems concerned penalties and the administration of chemical tests to determine an individual's BAC. The new amendment prohibits driving with a BAC of .10 percent or 0.14 percent gs per 100 mLs of urine. The amendment also provides that upon a driver's refusal to submit to a chemical test, confirmed by the proper police affidavits, the registrar of motor vehicles is to suspend the arrestee's license for a year. Furthermore, the provision calls for the officer's immediate physical seizure of the driver's license under specific circumstances. The amendment provides specific jail terms and fines for each violation of the drunk driving law. The new law is likely to have a significant effect on social drinkers, teens, and occasional heavy drinkers because of stiffer fines and penalties, but it will not effectively deter the problem drinker or alcoholic, because it does not provide treatment for chronic drinkers. The mandatory jail sentence probably will result in more contested trials and appeals, and it will compound the problem of already overcrowded jails. Administration of the new law is likely to be costly and time consuming. Finally, the amendment gives judges very little latitude to tailor punishments to the particular offender. The law faces some constitutional problems, but is structured so that pretrial seizure of a driver's license may satisfy the Constitution's due process requirements. The paper contains 135 footnotes. 135 footnotes.