Friday, February 6, 2009

Connecticut: Driving under the Influence

CONNECTICUT CRACKING DOWN ON DRUNK DRIVERS

New laws recently enacted in Connecticut have toughened DWI laws in an attempt to keep drunk drivers off the roads. These new laws impose higher fines and jail terms for those who are convicted of drunk driving, set lower blood alcohol levels for purposes of determining whether a driver is under the influence of alcohol, and set more stringent requirements for pretrial alcohol education programs.




Under the new laws, the blood alcohol level for determining whether a person is driving under the influence remains at .10 for first-time offenders, but has been lowered for drivers with previous DWI convictions from .10 to .07. In addition, under the new laws, the pretrial alcohol education program available to drivers convicted of driving under the influence now requires the offender to participate in at least fifteen counseling sessions, rather than ten as required under the previous laws, if the blood alcohol level of the offender was .16 or higher. For offenders with a blood alcohol level lower than .16, the law remains the same, requiring participation of at least ten alcohol education sessions for completion of the pretrial alcohol education program.




The most dramatic changes in the new DWI laws are the increased penalties for repeat offenders of the drunken driving laws. For conviction of a first violation, the present law provides for a fine of at least $500.00 to a maximum of $1,000.00 dollars, imprisonment of up to 6 months, which is suspended if the offender performs at least 100 hours of community service as a condition of probation, and suspension of the person’s driver’s license for one year.
However, for conviction of a second or third violation within ten years after a prior drunken driving conviction, the punishment has been significantly increased.





Under the previous law, second-time offenders received a fine from $500.00 to $2,000.00, could be imprisoned for up to one year, ten days of which could not be reduced or suspended in any manner, and had their driver’s licenses suspended for two years. Now, with the recent amendments to these laws, the minimum fine for second-time offenders has been doubled to $1,000.00 dollars, and the maximum fine was also doubled to $4,000.00. In addition, under the new law, second-time offenders can be imprisoned for up to 2 years, 120 days of which cannot be reduced or suspended in any way, and also they are automatically sentenced to a period of probation requiring that they serve 100 hours of community service. Finally, under the new law, the driver’s licenses of second-time offenders are suspended for three years rather than two.




For a third DWI conviction, under the new law, the most significant change is that the third-time offender not only must pay a significantly higher fine (maximum increased from $4,000.00 to $8,000.00) and serve a longer minimum jail term (1 year) than under the previous law, but also, the offender’s driver’s license is permanently revoked upon such third offense. As under the previous law, under the present law, a court can require that an offender participate in an alcohol education and treatment program in addition to imposing any fine, probation and jail term.

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