Since Illinois adopted a stricter definition of drunken driving, the number of motorists arrested for driving under the influence has jumped by a dramatic 9 percent.
Nearly 1,700 motorists arrested under the new law might have gotten off scot-free before last July 2, when a new state law made it illegal to operate a vehicle with a blood-alcohol level of .08 percent or higher. Those arrests account for more than half of the statewide increase.
Law enforcement officials and advocates attribute the rest of the increase–about 1,500 arrests–to more vigorous enforcement since the new law went into effect.
“You feel more comfortable arresting the people that maybe you would have had a question about,” said Sgt. Richard Decker, who patrols the Stevenson Expressway on the midnight shift for the Illinois State Police.
“There’s more enthusiasm for pursuing drunk drivers,” added Martha Belluschi, the former state executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, who pushed for the new law. “The .08 law says very clearly, `We do not tolerate drunk driving in Illinois.’ “
The previous limit was .10 percent, and for an average man, the change roughly meant the difference between having four drinks in an hour and five.
It isn’t clear whether the law, which had been a goal of the anti-drunken driving movement for years, is responsible for a 10 percent drop in highway fatalities this year. But advocates argue that it’s a contributing factor.
In the first 10 months of the new law, there were 38,530 drunken driving arrests, an increase of 9.1 percent over the same period the previous year, according to the secretary of state’s office. Statistics for May and June are not yet available.
The increase includes 1,670 arrests at the levels of .08 and .09. But it also includes a dramatic increase in the number of drivers arrested with blood-alcohol levels of .10 percent, which rose by more than a third over the previous year to 1,134.
Drivers arrested at .11 percent rose by 26.7 percent to 1,352, and drivers arrested at .12 percent rose by 14.3 percent, to 1,482.
But the majority of arrests– more than 14,500–involved people with blood alcohol levels of .15 percent or greater, including nearly 2,000 who tested at .25 percent or more–more than twice the old limit.
In addition, nearly 14,000 drivers arrested for DUI refused to take a Breathalyzer test, making it impossible to measure their blood-alcohol level. Refusal to take the test results in an automatic six-month suspension of a driver’s license.
Critics complain that the .08 crusaders have shifted focus away from the heavy drinkers who are responsible for most crashes and toward what they call the “social drinker. “
Police and prosecutors say the new law helps them arrest and prosecute drivers who are at a “borderline” level of impairment.
It is widely agreed drivers are impaired at blood-alcohol levels of .10 percent, and police generally believed they had an airtight DUI case if a suspect registered that level in a Breathalyzer test.
But if the suspect registered just a fraction lower, the officer and the prosecutor would have a harder time making their case in court. Drivers can be prosecuted for DUI for having any alcohol in his bloodstream, but they won’t automatically be considered to have been impaired unless their blood-alcohol level exceeded the “legal” limit.
At this point, only 14 percent of drivers charged under the new law have been convicted, according to a Tribune analysis of the state figures.
But the figures are incomplete, because it can take up to two years for the courts to dispose of a DUI case.
The 14 percent also does not include the first-time offenders who got court supervision, which is not legally considered a conviction.
While DUI arrests increased, highway fatalities went down in Illinois after the law went into effect. During the study period, there were 1,060 highway deaths, a drop of 10 percent from the previous year.
For a variety of reasons, it is impossible to say whether the new DUI law contributed to that decrease. State officials don’t yet know how many of those highway fatalities were caused by drunken drivers, and therefore they cannot determine whether alcohol-related fatalities increased or decreased.
In addition, the number of fatalities can be a misleading standard. For example, even in a year when the number of drunken-driving crashes is relatively low, the number of fatalities could still be inflated by wrecks with multiple victims.
Meanwhile, critics cite figures and anecdotal evidence to make the case that the law is going after the wrong people. They say the law focuses on drunken drivers who pose a relatively small risk compared to those who are far over the limit.
In fact, as a driver’s blood-alcohol level rises, so does his chance of being involved in a car crash. Statewide, the average DUI offender registers a blood-alcohol level of .17, more than twice the legal limit.
“It’s a bit ridiculous,” said Wheaton lawyer Donald Ramsell, who defends about 1,000 DUI cases a year. “The problem is, most people at a .08 or .09 are generally, if there is such a thing, the more responsible consumers of alcohol. What we’re reaching into are the professionals who have attended a client meeting or a business social function. These aren’t guys driving between two bars.”
Melvin L. Butler, a 42-year-old Chicago janitor, found out how tough that new climate can be.
Butler testified recently in court that after drinking a few beers at a friend’s house he climbed into his Buick and decided to sober up a little before driving anywhere.
Butler tested at .09 alcohol level, prompting police to charge him with DUI because he was “in a position to exert control over the vehicle.” But a Cook County jury acquitted him last month.
Bradley Bennett of Naperville was not so lucky. A couple of months after the law took effect, Bennett, a construction contractor, stopped off at a local bar for a few beers with friends. When an officer pulled him over, he readily agreed to a Breathalyzer because he was sure he would pass.
Back at the station house, the officer informed Bennett otherwise.
“He was cheering that he got me,” recalled Bennett, who registered a .08 blood-alcohol level. “I asked him, `Have you ever solved a real crime?’ Oh, did he ever get mad.”
Some police and prosecutors think that drivers have been less cooperative in the last year. Cook County prosecutors say they think they have seen more cases this year where suspects refused the Breathalyzer tests.
But the secretary of state’s report says the refusal rate has actually declined during the last year, to around 36 percent.
Supporters of the law argue that people are not being treated unfairly if they are punished for drinking and driving at a level of .08.
Even though they were responsible for a smaller percentage of accidents, drivers with blood-alcohol levels between .01 and .09 still accounted for 9 percent of all crashes in Illinois in 1996, the most recent year for which figures were available.
The law’s champions think that’s enough justification.
“Driving at .08, .09 or .10 is drunk driving,” said Belluschi. “People at that level don’t belong behind the wheel.”
