Super Drunk: New Michigan law will give “super drunk” dri­vers greater pun­ish­ments such as larger fines, one year of alco­hol reha­bil­i­ta­tion and one year license sus­pen­sion. Photo By: Kate Dupon | Photo Editor

Effective Oct. 31, 2010, Michigan’s new “super drunk” law is the result of Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s approval of Senate Bill 1134 and House Bill 4289.

Signed into law Jan. 9, 2009, the bill amends var­i­ous sec­tions of the Michigan Vehicle Code.

According to the new law, dri­vers with a bod­ily alco­hol level (BAC) of 0.17 or more grams of alco­hol per 100 mil­li­liters per blood, per 210 liters of breath, or per 67 mil­li­liters of urine, will be required to have one year of alco­hol reha­bil­i­ta­tion and a one year license suspension.

The first 45 days of the sus­pen­sion will be con­sid­ered a “hard” sus­pen­sion. This removes all dri­ving priv­i­leges. The remain­ing 320 days allow the offender restricted dri­ving priv­i­leges with the addi­tion of a breath alco­hol igni­tion inter­lock device (BAIID) placed on their vehi­cle. The offender will be required to pay for the instal­la­tion of the BAIID as well as monthly main­te­nance fees.

The new “super drunk” law will also increase drunk dri­ving fines to $200-$700. There can also be an increase in poten­tial jail time from 93 days to as many as 180 days.

Violation of the imposed dri­ving restric­tions with a BAC of 0.025 or higher will result in a dou­bling of the ini­tial penalties.

Ferris junior Kevin Tran said stu­dents who choose to drive drunk are risk­ing their lives and the lives of the peo­ple around them.

“We’re young and full of poten­tial, and some teens are wast­ing it by drink­ing and dri­ving,” said Tran.

Having been involved in a car acci­dent with a drunk dri­ver, Tran said he is for­tu­nate no one was injured.

“It was one of the scari­est moments of my life,” said Tran.

According to DPS’ annual crime sta­tis­tics report, liquor law vio­la­tions at Ferris have decreased the last four years. Assistant Director of Public Safety James Cook said the reduc­tion in vio­la­tions is partly due to DPS offi­cers edu­cat­ing the cam­pus community.

“People are becom­ing aware of alco­hol issues as a whole,” said Cook. “People are being more responsible.”

Cook said peo­ple need to know that drunk dri­ving acci­dents affect the lives of every­one involved.

“It will leave last­ing scars for the vic­tim, and the fam­ily on both sides,” said Cook. “A care­less moment can leave a last­ing scar on your life for­ever.” n

Related Posts

No related posts.