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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 29, 1994                   TAG: 9406290104
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW LAWS

VIRGINIA WILL be a less friendly place for those who drive under the influence of alcohol come Friday - which is as it should be. The state's highways and streets should become safer places as a result.

Indeed, amid a slew of new laws going into effect July 1 are several that take aim at the pernicious problem of drunken driving.

One of these, unfortunately, is overreaching. A motorist will now be considered legally drunk if his or her blood-alcohol-content level is 0.08 percent. This will criminalize many more motorists, but without proving any more effective, in all likelihood, than the current blood-alcohol-content standard (of 0.10 percent) in getting truly dangerous, chronic drunken drivers off the roads.

More helpful is a measure that sets a virtual zero-tolerance standard for drivers under the age of 21. If they are caught driving with a blood-alcohol-content level of at least 0.02, they can lose their license for six months and pay a fine up to $500. This is tough, but it may prevent many from taking up the DUI habit and carrying it into adulthood. These are, after all, under-age drinkers. Better tough than dead.

This weekend also will usher in a new law making it easier for law-enforcement officials to impound the cars of repeat drunken drivers. If a person is arrested driving under the influence when his or her license has been suspended because of a previous DUI conviction, the vehicle in which he's driving will be confiscated for a mandatory 30 days. It can be impounded for an additional 90 days following the driver's conviction.

The confiscated vehicle, incidentally, need not belong to the drunken driver. It can be Mom's, Dad's, a best pal's. And anyone who permits operation of his or her vehicle by someone known to have a revoked or suspended license for an alcohol-related offense may also be charged, facing up to 12 months in jail and/or a $2,500 fine.

Again, that's tough. But it should help prevent relatives, friends and neighbors from doing chronic drinkers the "favor" of lending them a car that becomes a weapon.

Sorry to say, of all the laws passed by the '94 legislature, the one promising to be most effective in the battle against drunken driving won't be going on the books Friday. It will kick in, however, on Jan. 1, 1995: an automatic seven-day revocation of driving licenses for intoxicated motorists.

The delay in implementation is excusable. Though administrative-revocation laws have been deemed constitutional in other states, police, prosecutors and judges need time to gear up for it in Virginia, to ensure they don't overstep legal bounds.

The idea behind the booze-it-and-lose-it law - swift and sure punishment - should apply generally to Virginia's now-hardened legal efforts against those who drive while drunk.

by CNB