House OKs tougher DWI laws

by Colin Campbell, News and Observer, March 9, 2015.

The N.C. House voted Monday night to toughen two state laws targeting repeat drunken drivers.

Both bills were sponsored by Democratic Rep. Darren Jackson of Wake County, and they garnered support from both parties. Jackson pointed to 2013 statistics that showed about one-third of traffic fatalities in North Carolina involved drunken drivers.

The first measure, House Bill 32, would lower the threshold for a habitual drunken driving charge. The current law applies to drivers charged four or more times within 10 years. If Jackson’s bill becomes law, a driver would be charged with habitual DWI on the third offense within 10 years.

Habitual drunken driving is a felony that carries a minimum of one year in jail, and the sentence can’t be suspended. Convicted drivers must also complete a substance abuse program while in jail or as a condition of parole.

Jackson, an attorney, said he recently represented a victim in a deadly drunken driving crash. “The defendant had five prior DWIs on his record,” Jackson said of the case. “He never hit that four times in 10 years, so they were never a felony and he was never taken off” the road.

Jackson said most other states set the bar for a felony at three drunken driving offenses. “It would be like baseball – third strike and you’re out,” he said.

The bill passed in a 112-2 vote and heads to the Senate.

Jackson’s other proposal, House Bill 31, addresses restrictions on convicted drunken drivers with license restrictions – typically first offenders. The bill would ban those drivers from getting behind the wheel with any alcohol in their system.