The Washington Impaired Driving Work Group was created to study effective strategies to reduce vehicle-related deaths and serious injuries that are a result of impaired driving incidents in Washington. The IDWG was charged with researching, reviewing, and making recommendations on the following: a. Lowering the minimum number of previous impaired driving convictions that must be counted before constituting and being punishable as a felony offense b. Providing effective strategies for reducing motor vehicle-related deaths and serious injuries due to impaired driving* c. Increasing mandatory minimum penalties and fines for repeat offenders d. Promoting and monitoring the use of mandatory ignition interlocks e. Creating sobriety checkpoints f. Requiring mandatory arrests for a first offense for an impaired driving offense g. Increasing treatment and rehabilitation for repeat offenders h. Increasing the penalties for refusing to take a breath or blood test for the purpose of determining the alcohol concentration or presence of any drugs i. Increasing funding for prevention, intervention, suppression, and prosecution of impaired driving offenses* j. Prohibiting the sale of alcohol to offenders convicted of repeat impaired driving offenses k. Improving prosecution and encouraging prosecutors to aggressively enforce impaired driving laws l. Increasing the number of driving under the influence courts (DUI) and court-related services m. Creating state and local impaired driving enforcement task forces to increase the visibility of enforcement n. Promoting education and prevention strategies* o. Encouraging private sector collaboration* Note: Those strategies designated with “*” are common components of effective strategies that should be considered with any implemented strategy to maximize the effectiveness of that strategy. Research and references are provided for them, but they were not considered in the strategy priority rankings, as all are needed for any strategy to be effective. Required Action: To compile Work Group findings and recommendations into a final report and provide the report to the Legislature and Governor by December 1, 2013. Process: Three Work Group meetings were held where the research available on each strategy was presented followed by a discussion of that strategy by the group. Washington Traffic Safety Commission, the host agency, conducted a survey that allowed IDWG members and attendees to record their opinions about each strategy. The survey assessed their collective preferences and level of support for each strategy. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting