
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 23, 1993                   TAG: 9307230381
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CABELL F. COBBS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUDGES GO EASY ON DRUNKEN DRIVERS

AS YOU have pointed out editorially and otherwise, there is no more serious problem in our society today than driving while intoxicated. It seems that the General Assembly wrestles with it every year and, predictably, comes up with no more than half-measures.

In more than 40 years of active law practice, I defended many such cases. My experience is that breathalyzer and blood tests render proof of guilt almost conclusive, yet many seem to continue to escape the consequences of their acts. To the experienced attorney or police officer, the reasons are easy to discern.

First, the Alcohol Safety Action Program, offered as an alternative to loss of license, is a joke. Despite the joyous claims of the social workers it employs, its honor graduates are usually only the casual drinkers who are not likely to be repeat offenders. The hard-core drinker remains essentially unaffected and secure in his belief that he can both drink and drive, which he continues to do while attending the course. Only the public suffers.

Second, judges are loath to impose serious penalties even in the cases of repeat offenders. Confinement, though authorized for this offense, is almost unknown. We are told that jails are overcrowded, the defendant's alcoholism is a disease, and all the rest of the reasons why a fine, rather than imprisonment, is appropriate. And then he kills someone, and his actions, no matter what his prior record, become as murderous as if he had shot his victim. They were just as willful and dangerous the first time he stumbled into his vehicle and blearily drove away from his favorite tavern.

Third, the General Assembly fears the imposition of severe or mandatory penalties. Attorneys, lobbyists and delegates are all too familiar with cocktail parties and other functions, and are sensitive to the fact that they themselves frequently drive back to hotels with a few drinks under their belts. They find it hard, therefore, to provide for punishment of the fellows back home for the same conduct, particularly if jail time is mandated. Instead, they continue silly alternate programs such as ASAP, and the carnage goes on.

What is needed? There is, as Roanoke Del. Clifton Woodrum said, no sure cure. But my experience suggests mandatory sentences to confinement on the first offense; minimum fines of $1,000; repeat offenders charged as felons; and both operator's permits and vehicle tags automatically revoked on conviction. Concededly, these will not stop drinking and driving, but they will go a long way toward reducing the number of offenders. Let's quit throwing up our hands in horror and do something to stop the slaughter of the innocents.

Cabell F. Cobbs of Roanoke has practiced law.

by CNB