Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, July 23, 1993 TAG: 9307230365
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK and DAVID M. POOLE STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"There's a lot to work on, but the best thing from the hearing was . . . the sense of urgency that this is something the 1994 [General Assembly] session needs to act on," said Del. Steven Agee, a member of the House of Delegates Courts of Justice Committee.
However, the opponent of one committee member charged Thursday that the public outcry might have fallen on deaf ears.
"The recent visit of the House Courts of Justice Committee to the Roanoke Valley was excellent political theater, but if history is any guide, real results may be hard to come by," Republican Bud Brumitt said.
Brumitt is running against Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, a senior member of the committee. He said the committee has gained a reputation as "the place where strong anti-crime bills went to die - including reforms of the drunken-driving laws."
Recent Department of Motor Vehicles figures show that for every eight drivers in Virginia, one has a suspended or revoked license. Many of the 665,000 suspended motorists continue to drive, sometimes with fatal consequences.
"What this tells me is that they simply are not scared of the law," Brumitt said. "Maybe they spent some time watching the House Courts of Justice Committee in action."
But Cranwell and other committee members say they already are following up on the public's suggestions.
Cranwell accused Brumitt of politicizing the issue instead of helping legislators solve the very difficult problem of keeping suspended and drunken drivers off the road.
"If he had something constructive to say about drunken driving, he should have appeared at the public hearing," Cranwell said.
After the hearing, a subcommittee was appointed to study the crowd's suggestions with the goal of drafting specific legislation by late October.
Cranwell, who heads the subcommittee, defended his own voting record on drunken-driving legislation, which includes helping draft several statutes.
At Tuesday's hearing, one of the most frequently cited solutions was giving authorities the power to take cars away from those who insist on driving illegally.
Joyce Baldwin demanded to know why Virginia can seize the cars of people involved in prostitution, but is powerless to take them from its most dangerous drivers.
It's not quite that simple, several legislators said.
Virginia had a confiscation law that was repealed in 1989, after complaints that it was too cumbersome.
"It was a headache, for a lot of different reasons," said Roscoe Reynolds, D-Martinsville, a member of the committee and a former commonwealth's attorney.
Confiscation was deemed too time-consuming, and the costs of storing and selling the cars did not support the program.
To protect the rights of lienholders and joint owners, the law could be used only against offenders who owned their cars free and clear. Even then, administrative costs often exceeded the value of the car.
"It was just a frustration that wasn't worth the trouble," said Leroy Moran, a Roanoke lawyer and former commonwealth's attorney.
Impounding cars temporarily - as opposed to seizing and selling them - might make the law more enforceable, some say.
"I think the ripple effect of impounding vehicles, even for a short period of time, would do more to affect the public at large," Roanoke Commonwealth's Attorney Donald Caldwell said.
Caldwell said such a law would make it less likely for legitimate car owners to hand their keys to an illegal driver.
Critics charge that giving the government more forfeiture power might lead to heavy-handed seizures complained of in the war on drugs, such as federal agents seizing expensive homes and boats where small amounts of drugs were found.
"Even though there is some backlash, and some of it is reasonable, I think the mood is more favorable to explore this as a new concept," Caldwell said.
Cranwell said he wants to study what other states have done to impound or seize cars from motorists who continue to drive after having their licenses suspended for drunken-driving offenses.
Despite Brumitt's criticism, Agee said he expects some concrete results from the public hearing.
"You'll probably have half a dozen legislators hopping around in the next few months," he said.
"Even though it may be frustrating at times to the outside observer, we want to come up with something that, if passed, will be enforceable and will work without any loopholes."
\ PEOPLE'S IDEAS ON HOW TO KEEP SUSPENDED DRIVERS OFF THE ROAD\ \ Labeling the license plates of illegal drivers to alert police and warn other drivers.\ \ Raising fines and using the extra money to build a work farm or boot camp for suspended drivers.\ \ Making driving on a suspended license punishable by a mandatory jail term, a law that was repealed in Virginia in part because of jail overcrowding.\ \ Re-examining VASAP and other counseling programs, and revamping educational efforts to reach people at an earlier age.\ \ Offering rewards for information leading to the arrests of illegal drivers.\ \ Distributing Department of Motor Vehicles lists of most dangerous drivers to police, and developing technology to make the records more available in courtrooms and patrol cars.\ \ Hiring private investigators to help police track down illegal drivers.\ \ Offering better public-transportation alternatives for people with suspended licenses.\ \ Printing in newspapers the names of people who drive drunk or on suspended licenses. Conducting more sobriety checkpoints.\ \ Abolishing restricted licenses, which allow people convicted of driving under the influence to drive to and from work.\ \ Passing an administrative revocation law allowing authorities to take licenses of people charged with drunken driving before they go to court.\ \ Lowering the blood-alcohol content necessary for a conviction of drunken driving from 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent.\ \ Eliminating the sale of alcohol at public events. Taking the licenses of juveniles after their first traffic-related conviction until they turn 21.\ \ Putting offenders under house arrest or electronic surveillance. Banning the sale of cold beer and barring all alcohol advertising from television.\ \ Hiring more police officers and allowing volunteer rescue workers to assist them in some duties, such as conducting sobriety checkpoints.\ \ Changing Virginia law to allow lawsuits against businesses and others who allow someone to drive away after being served alcohol.
by CNB