California Falling Short in Preventing DUI Accidents
Every state is permitted to make its own laws on drunk driving. However, the federal government has certain requirements for states to make sure they are doing enough to keep the roads safe from intoxicated drivers. If a state fails to meet the minimum federal requirements, it can find itself having some of its federal highway funds diverted. The money from the federal government, which is normally appropriated for road construction and maintenance, can be diverted to be used only for drunk driving programs and enforcement if the state falls short with its DUI laws.
Our Irvine, CA car accident attorneys know that California is currently not in compliance with the federal requirements. As USA Today reports, California stands to have $70.5 million diverted into DUI programs. Of course, having extra money to prevent drunk driving is not necessarily a bad thing. However, USA Today reports that many states are upset by the federal government’s changes to the DUI requirements and by the funding restrictions being imposed as a result of tougher federal standards.
Federal Requirements for DUI Laws
In prior years, a law called the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) set the rules for what laws the states had to have in place in order to be in compliance with federal requirements and to receive their highway funds unrestricted. TEA-21 requirements mandated that states have:
- A law setting .08 as the legal limit.
- An open container law forbidding any open containers of alcohol to be in the passenger compartment of a car being driven, even if the container belonged to a passenger or was in an unlocked glove compartment.
- Laws imposing more stringent penalties on repeat violators of drunk driving laws. The penalties must include a license suspension of at least a year as well as immobilization or impounding of the vehicle of the drunk driver. States also needed to assess the need for treatment, require treatment if necessary, and impose minimum periods of either community service and/or imprisonment depending on whether the offense was a second, third or subsequent offense.
If states complied with these and other TEA-21 mandates, they could receive their federal highway funds to use for road construction and maintenance. If they didn’t, then there were restrictions and a portion of the federal money was limited to being used for DUI programs and efforts. In June 2012, however, the federal government updated TEA-21, passing the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century law. This is now known as MAP-21 and it imposed some additional requirements and standards on states for complying with federal DUI mandates.
California, and many other states, are not living up to the new requirements or the stricter enforcement requirements under the MAP-21 rules. Many states had laws that were acceptable before but which are no longer considered adequate under the new requirements.
Because California doesn’t have sufficient DUI laws, we will now have over $70 million diverted that could have been used to fix failing infrastructure. California should strongly consider making necessary changes to impose stricter DUI laws both to reclaim its highway money for construction and to help to keep residents of the state safer from drunk drivers.
If you’ve been injured, or you lost a loved one, contact the Law Offices of Daniel C. Carlton at (949) 757-0707, or visit 19700 Fairchild, Suite 280, Irvine, CA 92612.