PRESS RELEASE
From the Office of State Senator Jeff Wentworth

For Immediate Release
June 15, 2001
Contact: Margaret Rambie - (210) 826-7800

Tougher DWI laws could have sobering influence on drivers and boaters

Since Texas last recorded a traffic-fatality-free day on February 28, 1995, 14,341 men, women and children have died on Texas highways, including 4,368 in alcohol-related accidents.

Although alcohol-related deaths have decreased since 1999 when the 76th Legislature lowered the blood alcohol content from .10 to .08, more can be done to save Texas lives. This session, the 77th Legislature passed measures that strengthened current driving-while-intoxicated laws and created others.

For the first time in Texas, beginning September 1, 2001, open containers of alcohol will be banned from vehicle passenger areas. Violators may be punished by a $500 fine.

Administrative License Revocation (ALR), instituted in 1995, also has helped decrease alcohol-related motor vehicle traffic accidents. In its continuing efforts to reduce alcohol-related accidents, the Legislature not only strengthened ALR laws, we extended them to boaters.

Beginning September 1, people suspected of operating a car or boat while intoxicated will have their driver's license confiscated when they are arrested if they refuse to take, or fail, a breath test. Those who fail will receive a temporary driving permit good for 40 days, during which time they may appeal the confiscation. If the revocation stands, the new law doubles the time a driver's license is suspended from 90 to 180 days. Since a license is not required to operate a boat, the motor vehicle driver's license is confiscated.

The lethal combination of drinking and driving becomes even more deadly if the driver is a teenager. Drivers younger than age 25 accounted for nearly a third of the alcohol-related fatalities in 1999, even though the legal drinking age in Texas is 21.

Teen-age drivers also account for 13 percent of all fatal car crashes, although they comprise only six percent of all licensed drivers. The accident rate for 16-year-old drivers is more than twice that of other teen-age drivers, and they are three times more likely to die in a traffic accident than all other drivers combined.

Hoping to save more young Texans' lives, the Legislature passed a graduated driver's license bill. Under the bill's provisions, for the first six months that 16 or 17-year-olds are licensed, they will not be allowed to drive between midnight and 5 a.m., except to and from a job, for work on a family farm, school-related activities and medical emergencies. Because fatal crashes are more likely to occur when other teens are in the car, only one passenger under age 21 may ride with a teen-age driver, except with their parents' permission.

In spite of a decrease in fatal traffic accidents, the number of children ages 14 and younger killed in traffic crashes increased from 185 in 1998 to 202 in 1999. Seat belts, car seats and booster seats don't save lives if they are not used.

To help ensure that they are used, the Legislature increased the penalty for child safety seat and safety seat system offenses from a minimum of $25 and a maximum of $50 to a minimum of $100 and a maximum of $200.

We also changed the age requirement for both safety seat and seat belt wearers. Children younger than age five must be in a child passenger safety seat while children ages five through 16 must wear a seat belt.

All persons younger than 18 are banned from riding in open beds of pickups on public roads. Drivers could be fined up to $500 for a violation.

Although the new laws will not become effective until the end of the summer, I urge all Texas drivers, teen-agers and adults, to buckle up and drive responsibly during what should be the happiest and most carefree season of the year.

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