MISSOULA – A statewide coalition has begun a yearlong effort to track as many drunken driving cases as possible, in an effort to develop more effective drunken driving laws.
“If we want to make intelligent change, then we need to understand the real picture of what’s actually going on,” said Kristin Lundgren, a member of the newly formed Montana Common Sense Coalition.
The group will be doing its work on the county level because there is no state agency that has comprehensive information about drunken driving charges.
“What we need is a clearinghouse of DUI arrest information so we can sort out what’s going on,” Lundgren said. “There is no easy way to collect the information. It’s very difficult to get the big picture and the details, too.”
An interim committee of the Montana Legislature is studying Montana’s drunken driving laws and drinking culture with the idea of making recommendations to the 2011 Legislature.
The number of first-time DUI convictions increased nearly 20 percent from 2004 to 2008, while the number of repeat offenses rose by about 16 percent.
“We can get basic DUI information through the state,” Lundgren said, “but we can’t get any kind of detail. How many are first offenders? How many are fourth offenders? What’s their blood-alcohol content? How many go to court? How many get plea bargains? How many are actually sentenced? What are the sentences?”
As part of her job, Erin Inman, a special prosecutor for the state Department of Justice, trains law enforcement, prosecutors and judges about handling DUI cases.
“What we’d like to do,” Inman said, “is track this in detail, county by county, so we can identify what works and what doesn’t.”
Becky Sturdevant has been doing that in Flathead County since her son, Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Evan Schneider, was killed in a crash while on duty in 2008.
“The real challenge is doing it statewide,” Sturdevant said. “Every court has its own way of recording information, and it’s not consistent. There’s no big computer at the state that knows all this stuff, so we have to do it by hand.”
Ravalli County prosecutor George Corn said he thinks collecting the data is a good idea.
“The more data you get, the more accurate information you have when it comes time to design good legislation,” Corn said.
Corn has been following the work of the interim legislative committee and believes changes in state law are likely during the next session. He said the way drunken driving is perceived in the state also needs to change.
“The momentum is building,” Corn said. “What we’re looking at now is a 16-month program, starting today and leading right up to the next legislative session, to capture and keep the attention of our lawmakers. That’s where the change will happen, and we need to keep on them to make sure it does.
“We’ve had lots of great ideas in the past,” he said, “but they die when they get to Helena. That won’t happen if people don’t allow it.”