Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993 TAG: 9307190258
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The idea was to have those people declared habitual offenders, with hopes that the risk of a mandatory prison sentence might keep them off the road.
Yet of 14,316 people DMV certified as potentially dangerous drivers that year, only 3,248 were declared habitual offenders by Virginia judges.
What happened to the other 11,000? No one knows for sure, but chances are many of them kept driving - right around one of Virginia's toughest sentencing laws.
The problem is not finding potential habitual offenders on a computer screen; that's easy. The problem is tracking them down and bringing them to court.
"This is a group of hard-core offenders who don't really want to be found," said Cheryl Lynn, author of a Virginia Transportation Research Council study that examined Virginia's habitual-offender law.
"They don't pick up certified letters, and they don't tell DMV when they move," she said.
The study concluded that Virginia's habitual-offender law has improved highway safety since it was passed in 1968. But it also pointed to gaps in the process - one of the biggest being the system's inability to find so many offenders.
In the Roanoke region, habitual offenders are just as elusive.
More often than not, DMV papers arrive at commonwealth's attorneys' offices with outdated addresses for people to be taken to court and declared habitual offenders. State law requires offenders to be served notice in person, and sheriffs' deputies often arrive at suspects' former homes long after they have moved out.
"It's very frustrating when you go through all the paperwork to have them declared habitual offenders, and then they can't be found," said Bedford County Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Updike.
Yet according to Lynn's study, potential habitual offenders are the very people the system needs to find the most.
The study found that people who are taken to court and declared habitual offenders are involved in fewer subsequent accidents and DUI offenses than those who've managed to duck the court appearance at which they'd officially be declared habitual offenders.
In revealing how so many people are escaping Virginia's habitual offender law, the study raised questions about the DMV's role.
"The DMV, as the central agency responsible for the program's operation, does not have information on the number of cases in progress and has no authority to investigate the outcome of cases," the 55-page study concluded.
After the DMV sends the records of potential habitual offenders to commonwealth's attorneys where they live, there is no way to monitor statewide what happens in court. Many cases fall through the cracks.
The DMV still was monitoring some habitual offenders with hand-processed records until 1990. When a computer system went on line, the number of certifications jumped from 3,536 in 1989 to 13,430 the following year.
Some legislators wonder about the department's record keeping.
"It has always struck me, compared to other agencies, that DMV statistics were not as reliable," said Del. Steve Agee, R-Salem.
William Leighty, deputy commissioner for transportation safety, said recent changes in state law and within the department should improve the system.
Among them:
In September, the department will merge two computer systems that previously kept driver and vehicle registration information separately. The switch is expected to make it easier to find up-to-date addresses of potential habitual offenders.
Earlier this month, a new law went into effect that allows potential habitual offenders to be served a notice to appear in the court of any locality to which venue could be changed. Previously, state law required service in the locality where the person actually lived - meaning the process had to be restarted whenever an address was found to have changed.
In a law that becomes effective next year, DMV will give early warning to potential habitual offenders. After receiving the second of three qualifying convictions, the driver will be called in for an intervention program.
With 665,000 Virginia residents holding suspended licenses, the challenge is to weed out the most dangerous drivers first. Going after habitual offenders seems to be one answer.
"How do we get to the worst of the worst," Leighty said, "and let's start with them."
by CNB