Drunk Driving Laws - Harsh Enough?

North Carolina has pretty lax rules when it comes to repeat drunk drivers. The odds that someone who does not habitually drink and drive will get caught the one time they accidentally had too much is pretty slim, even more slim that they get caught twice. Drivers with a BAC above the legal limit who get caught twice or more most likely have serious drinking problems.

Under current law, a driver must be convicted of four DWIs within a 10-year period before the state’s sternest penalties kick in. Then, if the defendant spends enough time in prison, he or she can return to society with all the purity before the law of someone with no convictions.

Drunk driver Travis Fain has had numerous drunk driving charges and been jailed twice, yet he is not considered a habitual offender. He even killed a couple and their baby in the 1980's due to drunk driving.. But with all of the charges, he has not been convicted 4 times in ten years.. and quite a few of those years were spent in jail!

House Bill 31 is being looked at which would change the law to say that once someone is convicted as a habitual offender, he or she will always be a habitual offender when sentenced for new drunken driving convictions. Drivers convicted on the basis of numerous offenses would not get clean slates ever again.

There should be harsher laws against drunk drivers in all states. How can a man who's murdered a family not be considered a habitual drunk driver and a danger to society?


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