...for drunken drivers

INDIANAPOLIS -- A lawmaker who adamantly opposed legislation last year to lower the drunken driving threshold in Indiana is pushing a bill that would impose harsher penalties for the crime. 

Sen. Mike Young, R-Indianapolis, said his bill would "go after the essence of what the problem is on our highways, and that is basically those who have a problem with alcohol."

It would require lifetime license suspensions for those convicted of drunken driving three times, or once if the offense caused somebody's death. It also would increase mandatory jail time for certain alcohol offenses, including driving with a blood-alcohol content above 0.15 percent.

"We have a lot of laws in place that have helped reduce drunken driving rates in the state of Indiana, but we still have it and it still continues," Young said.

Young was joined at a Statehouse news conference by Marie Greger-Smith, president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving of Central Indiana, and Sherry Smith, whose 18-year-old daughter, Shelby Smith, was killed in 1999 by a drunken driver.

Young sponsored similar legislation in 2000 when he was a state representative. It passed the House but died in the Senate. He backed such a bill last year as a senator, and it passed the Senate but failed to clear the House.

But Tippecanoe County resident Margie Towery, whose daughter, Sarah, was killed by a drunken driver with a suspended license, said she's pessimistic that lifetime license suspensions will stop offenders from driving. 

And although lengthier sentences could be beneficial, she said the community needs to look at all alternatives, as well as the individual's circumstances.

"I think it's a good thing for some people," Towery said. "For some, it may be the only way to keep them off the streets. But it's not necessarily the answer in all cases."

Other options she cited were drug and alcohol rehabilitation, work release, house arrest and the ignition interlock, which requires the driver to pass a breath test before the vehicle starts.

"I think we cannot leave it to the legal system," Towery said. "We as a community need to take notice."

Young, who is running for Congress in the state's new 4th District, opposed legislation last year to lower the level at which a person is considered drunk from a blood-alcohol content of 0.10 percent to 0.08 percent. After 11 years of efforts, the bill passed and was signed into law.

Proponents, such as Sen. Thomas Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, and MADD said the lower limit would save lives and they pointed to studies indicating that everyone is somewhat impaired at 0.08.

Young said he opposed the legislation because anyone registering at 0.08 would automatically be considered intoxicated, even if they were not impaired.

Under supervision of the Indiana State Police, Young reached 0.08 and passed three field sobriety tests and two driving tests at the Indiana Police Academy "and did it faster than what it takes to become a police officer." 

"My point is, I can't offer that as evidence that I wasn't impaired, but someone could be at 0.04 and couldn't drive the darn car and it's not against the law," he said.

Greger-Smith, with the central Indiana MADD chapter, said her organization supported 0.08 because it had been shown to reduce drunken driving fatalities.

Wyss, who introduced the 0.08 bill during 10 of the past 11 years, said he was not aware that Young planned to file anti-drunken driving legislation this session.

"It's ironic how much he's learned over the past year about how dangerous drunken driving is," Wyss said.