LINCOLN — Stacy Ryan’s daughter has twice been convicted of drunken driving.
Both times, the legal system failed, the Omaha woman said, because it wasn’t tough enough.
The consequences of the second DUI amounted to 10 days of house arrest, one year of license revocation and a year of probation, Ryan said Tuesday during a State Capitol hearing on ways to reduce driving under the influence.
Yet when Ryan followed her daughter’s case through the system — confronting a judge, a probation officer, prosecutors and defense attorneys along the way — she said she was told the matter was no longer the mother’s concern because the daughter was an adult.
“The state has put themselves in the parent position, and they’re wholly inadequate as the parent,” Ryan said.
But the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee heard a different assessment from Marty Conboy, Omaha city prosecutor.
Conboy said he has spoken in 15 different states about legal issues surrounding driving under the influence.
“I will tell you Nebraska has the best DUI law in the country,” he said.
But even the best can get better, and in Nebraska that starts with recognizing drunken driving as the No. 1 cause of death among teens and young adults, Conboy said. He advocated for more rigorous education to teach younger children the risks.
“This is what’s killing them, and we need to tell them that,” he said. “Give them the facts.”
So perception of DUI enforcement, punishment and prevention can vary — depending on whether the experience is personal or big picture. Such is the challenge lawmakers face as they attempt to continue addressing a problem that’s as old as the Model T.
State Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha said that in the 20 years since the state last studied the topic, there have been 129 changes to state DUI laws.
During the past legislative session, lawmakers stiffened several penalties and approved a change that will substantially increase the use of ignition interlock devices that screen a driver’s breath for alcohol before allowing the car to start.
The purpose of the interim study is to assess what works well, what doesn’t and perhaps what should be adopted from other states, Harr said.
“We all know drinking and driving is a huge problem in the state of Nebraska,” Harr said.
Jim Stimpson is associate professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center who does public health research.
Stimpson told lawmakers research has identified several approaches that reduce drunken driving, including higher excise taxes on alcohol, offering more public transportation options, increasing sobriety checkpoints and improving education.
Lawmakers asked him about the effectiveness of ignition interlocks. Stimpson called them a tool that can help reduce repeat offenses or driving on suspended licenses, but said they’re not foolproof.
Scott Carlson, representing the Nebraska Administrative Office of Courts and Probation, said the state already uses a variety of intervention approaches with proven results.
Among them are screening techniques that allow judges to order more effective substance abuse treatment along with intense supervision of offenders with multiple DUI convictions.
The state’s model for delivering substance abuse services has been recognized by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American Probation and Parole Association, Carlson said.
He also mentioned the range of alcohol testing that can be done while offenders are on probation, including ankle monitors that continually register alcohol levels in the skin. Of the nearly 1,000 offenders on the ankle bracelet in 2010, only 13 percent tested positive or tampered with the device.
The downside to the bracelet is that it costs $12 per day to operate.
Carlson also briefed lawmakers on the pilot DUI court in Scotts Bluff County.
Modeled after the successful drug court model, officials hope the specialized court can deal with addiction and reduce repeat offenses.
Despite Nebraska’s strides in dealing with drinking and driving, the state continues to report a higher-than-average rate of binge drinking, said Diane Riibe of Project Extra Mile, an advocacy group that works to reduce underage drinking.
Binge drinkers are 14 percent more likely to drive impaired than drinkers who consume moderately, Riibe said.
As for policies that can reduce impaired driving, Riibe said, “Proven strategies are not necessarily politically the easy steps.”
Reducing hours when alcohol can be sold and dram shop laws, which impose civil liability on alcohol retailers for selling to minors or obviously intoxicated adults, were among her recommendations.
Contact the writer:
402-473-9587, joe.duggan@owh.com
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