By Briana Glenn
When Washington state lowers the amount of alcohol that can legally be in a driver's blood from .10 to .08 percent on Jan. 1, 1999, local Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) organizations will finally get what they have been working toward.
Margo Wyatt of MADD's Skagit Valley chapter said MADD members have been working to get the limit lowered for 15 years.
"This has been a top priority for MADD since the beginning," Wyatt said. " We are all very happy with the result of our efforts."
Ann French-Clemons, 41, and her family are also celebrating the new law. French-Clemons became the victim of a drunk driver when she lost her son Christopher, 16, to a three-time drunk driving offender on I-5 at Bow Hill.
Her son and another boy, Dylan Crayton, 16, were killed in a head-on collision when a drunk headed north in the south-bound lanes.
According to police reports, the driver's blood-alcohol level was almost double the legal limit to drive.
Since the accident, French-Clemons has started the Whatcom County chapter of MADD again after it closed its doors in 1997.
French-Clemons has high hopes for Whatcom County after the limit change goes into effect.
"My goal is to protect our families and communities from having to go through losing a loved one," French-Clemons said. "If this legislation could save just one life, it would be worth it."
Washington is the 16th state to adopt the lower limit after a push from the U.S. Senate.
States that fail to change their limit by October of 2001 could lose critical federal money for roads and highways.
For a 180-pound man, the new law would allow about four drinks in an hour to make him legally drunk. For a 125-pound woman, two and a half drinks would bring her to the limit.
Three hundred twenty four people died in Washington last year from drunken-driving accidents.
According to estimates, 35 to 40 lives per year could be saved in Washington under the lower standard for blood-alcohol levels.
Drunk driving is responsible for more than 1,000 injuries, 12,000 accidents and more than $500 million in property damage each year in Washington state.
Lowering the blood-alcohol limit is part of a 13-bill legislative push designed to get tough on drunk driving in Washington state.
Gov. Gary Locke and Senate Law and Justice Chairwoman Pam Roach, R-Auburn, were key backers for this new legislation.
"Washington law now says to drunken drivers we will take your license, send you to jail, send you home with an ankle bracelet, put an interlock on your car's ignition, close the loopholes and give you one chance only, forever, to get treatment," Locke said in a press release.
Major changes that go into effect Jan. 1 include, losing your driver's license automatically when pulled over for drunk driving.
The Department of Licensing will now make the decision as to whether drunk driving offenders keep their permanent license, or lose their license for 90 days.
The Department of Licensing goes by lower standards than criminal courts when proving a license should be suspended, and the outcome sticks no matter what the result of the criminal trial.
Repeat offenders are especially affected by the new legislation. Anyone found driving drunk more than once will be subject to electronic home monitoring systems.
Another item included in the legislation allows judges and prosecutors to look at past drunken-driving convictions that go back seven years as opposed to five.
Linda Storck of Judicial and Support Services in Bellingham projected that the lowered blood-alcohol level won't necessarily result in more arrests because the police already stop drivers who are driving irresponsibly.
"This is not a simple law change, it will have a definite impact," Storck said at a City Council meeting.
Storck said she doesn't know how much it will cost Bellingham to enforce the new laws.
The city is doing everything it can to let the community know about the new laws. Many highway signs are already in place to announce the change.
Videos and workbooks were used to explain implications of the new laws to police officers at a state-wide training session held Nov. 5.
Whatcom County prosecutors, public defenders, court staff, city and county officials and other interested parties also underwent training about the new laws.
A regional meeting on the subject was to be held in Mount Vernon Dec. 10.
"This is a chance for everyone to ask any questions they may have and to clarify any misunderstandings in the law change," Storck said.
While Storck feels there may not be more arrests as a result of the law change, Bellingham Traffic Sgt. Bill Slodysko doesn't agree.
"We will be arresting people for DUI's (driving-under-the-influence) that in the past weren't illegally driving drunk," Slodysko said. "More arrests will be made as a result."
Slodysko said police will be keeping extra officers on the road to enforce the new laws on both the city and county level.
"This is a very new and comprehensive law," Slodysko said. "We want to make sure everything is done right."