Tomorrow is the first meeting of the official Washington State Impaired Driving Work Group. The group – formed though Senate Bill 5912 – is co-chaired by Senator Mike Padden, Chair, Senate Law and Justice Committee and Representative Roger Goodman, Chair, House Public Safety Committee, and overseen by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission (WTSC).
SB 5912 was passed unanimously this last session and aims to stop the worst drunk driving offenders – those that do it again and again. The working group will continue the preliminary steps taken against impaired drivers in the bill as well as “study effective strategies to reduce vehicle-related deaths and serious injuries that are as a result of impaired driving.”
The working group will, among other things examine:
- Lowering the minimum number of impaired driving convictions a defendant must have before that offense becomes a felony.
- The advantages and disadvantages of sobriety checkpoints.
- Increasing finding for prevention, intervention, suppression and prosecution of impaired driving offenses.
- Prohibiting the sale of alcohol to offenders convicted of repeat impaired driving offenses.
- Encouraging private sector collaboration.
The group is made up of a wide variety of members who can address impaired driving from every angle: attorneys, law enforcement, the department of licensing, DUI victims, to drug treatment professionals, department of health and judges. These individuals will rely on background research provided by the WTSC. They will draft a final report and submit it to the legislature by December 1st of this year.
The meeting will take place tomorrow, from 8:30am-12 in the Columbia Room in the Legislative Building in Olympia. You can watch the meeting, broadcast live on TVW tomorrow morning, here.