Repeat DUI offenders deserve Three Strikes, lawmaker says

SAN MATEO — Not long after a San Mateo County man with a valid driver's license was sentenced to two years in jail for his ninth drunken-driving conviction, a Bay Area legislator has called for a rule that would automatically revoke the licenses of motorists who are repeatedly over the limit and behind the wheel.
"It's incredible that in the state of California that we have not set an upper limit where enough is enough," said state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Mateo. "I don't know how judges would allow this person to drive after so many DUIs."
According to the most recent Department of Motor Vehicle statistics, drunken driving killed 1,489 people and injured another 30,783 in 2007.
But as long as motorists do not hurt or kill someone while driving drunk and complete court-ordered penalties, they can try to get back their driver's licenses — even after multiple convictions, said Department of Motor Vehicles spokeswoman Jan Mendoza.
William Simon, 42, of Burlingame, had eight DUI convictions before he stumbled past two California Highway Patrol officers having coffee at a Starbucks in San Mateo in January. The officers had watched the man drive into the parking lot about 7 a.m. through an exit and then park his car crookedly. They questioned Simon and later arrested him when they realized his blood alcohol level was .21, nearly three times the legal limit of .08.
The San Mateo County Times obtained a copy of the man's driving record Oct. 30, but DMV officials were unavailable to explain how Simon had a valid license after eight drunken-driving convictions.
Simon's nine DUIs are unusual and, according to state records, he might be the only man with a valid license to have gotten that many convictions in the past 10 years.
But there are plenty of drivers who have multiple arrests. According to DMV numbers from 2006, the most recent available, 5,335 drivers who had racked up four drunken-driving convictions in the past 10 years still had valid licenses. The more DUIs a person has, the more likely he is to get arrested again, according to a DMV report.
For motorists with one to three drunken-driving charges, it is relatively simple to get back their driver's licenses. They have to pay a fine up to $1,000, take a class on the dangers of driving under the influence and possibly serve jail time. First-time offenders lose their licenses for four months and a third-time offender is without driving privileges for three years.
The hurdles for repeat offenders increase as the person's number of convictions grow. Four drunken-driving charges in a decade translates into at least four years without a license and five if someone gets hurt, said San Mateo County deputy district attorney Peter Lynch.
The offender must also pay higher insurance rates and a judge might order him to install an ignition interlock device on his vehicle. That device forces drivers to blow into it before they can turn on their car. If the driver is over the limit, the vehicle won't start.
"A lot of them just never get all of that done," Lynch said, referring to people with multiple convictions.
Mendoza said authorities can revoke the license of a repeat offender that they believe is an alcoholic. However, because alcoholism is considered an illness and medical privacy laws prohibit the release of a person's records, it is not clear if Simon was considered for this type of revocation.
Yet multiple offenders still get back their driving privileges. According to DMV statistics,y67 1,169 licensed California drivers had five or more DUI convictions in 2006.
"We're talking about issues where there is a human life at stake and yet we don't have a law," said Beverly McAdams, director of the Bay Area chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "We have a Three Strikes Law for much less serious offenses."
Yee said he will look into the problem, but admitted a Three Strikes-type law that would automatically revoke the license of multiple DUI offenders could be difficult to pass and any change is likely to be years away.
"The judges and prosecutors hate us meddling with their discretion," he said.
Victims' right advocates point to a pilot program that takes effect in July in Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, and Tulare counties that will make it harder for those already convicted of drunken driving to do it again.
McAdams said a bill signed into law in September requires people convicted of DUI, even first-time offenders, to have an ignition interlock device put on the car they own or drive in the four counties taking part in the pilot program.
Authorities said the law could reduce the number of people that drink and drive, even when they don't have a license.
"People who lose their license continue to drive," McAdams said. "We have to physically keep these people off the road."


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