DWI laws and enforcement: is enough being done?
Is enough being done to stop first time DWI offenders? Many advocates and elected officials call drunk driving an entirely preventable crime.
There are legal deterrents and minimum penalties in place to help decrease drunk driving. El Paso district attorney Jaime Esparza talked about some on ABC-7 Xtra back in August.
“You will go to jail,” Esparza said. “You will spend time in jail as a result of your drinking and driving.”
They were strong words from the D.A., who later admitted there are ways around the minimum jail sentences for DWI convictions with things like pre-trial diversions.
“Some people qualify if they’re first time offenders, if they don’t have a record,” Esparza said. “They gave us a sample of their breath, it’s below point one five, and a few other – there’s no accident. You could be eligible for pre trial diversion.”
Pre-trial diversion is designed for first-time misdemeanor offenders. This also means a DWI conviction will not go on their records if they complete certain requirements.
Advocates and local law enforcement have been pushing for harsher enforcement of DWIs, with things like the “Out For Blood” campaign and no refusal blood alcohol testing.
But members of El Paso’s state delegation say Texas lags behind other states when it comes to making the penalties stick.
State rep joe moody said several proposals are on the table, and that he’s hopeful change could come during the upcoming legislative session.
“You see tragedies like we do here in our community and we’ve seen obviously recently,” Moody said. “Those are happening all across the state. And they’re preventable. And so I think there is a lot of political will to try and ferret out this crime, because like I said before, this crime is one that is 100 percent preventable if we take the right measures.”
Other members of El Paso’s state delegation like state rep. Mary Gonzalez said that it was difficult to come up with concrete solutions in the legislature. State senator Jose Rodriguez said that there were several promising pieces of legislation coming up, including mandatory ignition breathalyzers installed in the vehicles even on a first conviction.
