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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 18, 1993                   TAG: 9308180093
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DWAYNE YANCEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TERRY, ALLEN VIE FOR TITLE OF TOUGHEST IN DUI WAR

Specifically, she is calling for stiffer sentences for bad drivers who cause fatal accidents.

But Republican gubernatorial candidate George Allen says Terry's approach takes aim at the wrong end of the problem and would not result in sentences as stiff as Terry wants anyway.

The two candidates sparred long-distance this week after Terry used a visit to Roanoke - and a speech before the Virginia Association of Chiefs of Police at the Airport Marriott - to make a pitch for stronger drunken-driving laws.

Terry said efforts in the early 1980s to crack down on drunken drivers helped make Virginia's highways safer. Before 1982, the state's conviction rate in drunken-driving cases was 30 percent; now it is 80 percent, she said.

Furthermore, she said, the average blood-alcohol content of those arrested for drunken driving has declined from 0.15 to 0.09, evidence that those who continue to drink and drive at least are drinking less.

But Terry said more needs to be done.

"We know that a quarter of all drunk drivers involved in fatal crashes had previous [driving under the influence] convictions," Terry said. "It's time to send a stronger message to the problem drinker who kills."

Terry also cited the May accident on the Roy L. Webber Highway in Roanoke - in which a driver whose license had been suspended six times killed himself and two others - as an example of why stronger laws are needed.

"Currently, those who kill with reckless disregard for life are subject to a sentence of as little as one year," Terry said. "I will seek to increase the minimum sentence to five years.

"I will seek the same increased penalty for those who kill driving under a suspended or revoked license, those who kill [while driving after] two drunk-driving convictions and those who kill while driving as habitual offenders."

But Allen, in an interview from his Richmond campaign headquarters, said Terry's call for stiffer sentences rang hollow.

"If she actually believes that, why hasn't she done anything about it during her seven years as attorney general?" he asked. "With her liberal parole laws, someone sentenced to five years would be out in only 1 1/3 years. That five-year sentence should mean five years. She's being deceptive with the voters."

Allen said instead of focusing on drivers who cause fatal accidents, it is more important to concentrate on preventing those wrecks.

The two candidates have different ideas on how to do that.

Allen said he had been talking with police officers and insurance companies to see if there was some way to identify vehicles belonging to suspended drivers, such as with a special tag.

He also said drivers convicted of drunken driving should have their licenses revoked for a minimum of 28 days.

Terry, meanwhile, said she will make another push in the General Assembly for "administrative revocation," wherein police officers who arrest motorists for drunken driving can take away their licenses on the scene.

More than 30 other states have tried that, Terry said, because it takes too long to wait until the case comes up in court.

Keywords:
POLITICS