Drunk driving decreases, but state officials want more

DETROIT (AP) - Alcohol was a factor in 36 percent of the fatal traffic accidents in Michigan in 1996, compared with 57 percent in 1980. But to those trying to further reduce drunken driving, the glass is still half empty.

Much of the focus is on repeat offenders, already the target of longstanding publicity and educational campaigns.

"Obviously, we're not getting to these people," said Michigan Secretary of State Candice Miller. "They just get into their cars and go."

A bill pending in the Legislature would lower Michigan's legal blood-alcohol content to 0.08 percent from the current 0.10 percent. Michigan is in danger of losing $1 million a year in federal alcohol prevention funding because the state's drinking laws fall short of proposed new federal standards, The Detroit News reported yesterday.

While the percentage of fatal crashes involving alcohol has fallen steadily since 1980, other statistics bother experts:

n The average motorist arrested for driving while intoxicated in 1996 had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16, far above the current legal limit.

n Of the more than 490,000 licensed Michigan drivers convicted of driving while intoxicated, nearly 5,000 have at least six offenses on their record.

"We are talking about people with serious alcohol problems who are intractable to change," Russ Fontaine, a senior analyst with Alcohol Research Consulting in California, told the News.

Critics of a stricter definition of drunken driving say such a law would miss its target.

"The problem is the repeat offenders who aren't going to be swayed" by lower blood-alcohol levels, said Michael Lashbrook, president of the Michigan Beer and Wine Wholesalers. "It's a symbolic fix that ... puts the fear of God into people who will be afraid to have that first or second glass of wine. These people are not the problem."

Tougher laws and high-impact counseling programs - including those in which Mothers Against Drunk Driving members tell offenders how families have been ravaged by drunken drivers - are only part of the solution, experts say.

"No one countermeasure can be prescribed," Fontaine said. "Each person's behavior and experience is unique. You have to match the clients to treatments. If you don't, your chance of success is slim or none."

One of the more successful Michigan programs aimed at curbing drunken driving is run by New Paths, a residential treatment center in Flint. A 1995 study found that 95 percent of clients had not been arrested for drunken driving after leaving the program, the News said.

Russell, 55, of Flint, spent 90 days at New Paths this summer after being arrested for drunken driving.

"I was scared when I went for my sentence," said Russell, who did not want his last name used. "I didn't realize drinking could get me in prison."

The New Paths program includes personal counseling and education courses, mandatory Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and talks by MADD members.

"The MADD class is devastating. This finally hit home," said Russell, who acknowledged that the New Paths program seemed to have little effect on other participants.

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