When it comes to drinking and driving, no more revolving door

I’m sure most of you are aware of the recent drunk driving accident in Anchorage. An SUV driven by a highly intoxicated woman plowed into a family walking alongside the road. A mother and her two young children are now in the hospital. One, only 4 years old, is suffering from some very serious injuries and is in intensive care.

The driver had (according the arresting officers) a blood alcohol level of .287, which more than three times the legal limit to operate a vehicle. That was 90 minutes after the collision. She is being charged with felony DUI due to two past DUI convictions along with a new string of assault charges — plus driving with a revoked license and no insurance.

This is not the first time someone has gone out on the road flaming drunk and injured or killed innocent people. It’s not the first time a person has had three or more drunk driving convictions, got behind the wheel loaded on alcohol or drugs and turned their vehicle into a deadly weapon.

But I wish with all my heart it will be the last time. The time has come to nail shut that revolving door that allows people to wrack up multiple DUIs and continue to drive. This epidemic of alcohol and drug-induced injury and death must cease.

How do we do this? Make the punishment so miserable that those convicted of DUI sit up and straighten out is one way. Instead of just revoking the driver’s license, remove the weapon as well. Confiscate the vehicle. Sell it to a family that needs one, or to a trade or tech school for training.

Perhaps increasing fines and adding real prison time would help. The hardest thing is preventing someone with no business behind the wheel from driving.

How do we stop the revolving door? For first-time offenders, I recommend treatment and community service. Give them the benefit of doubt. Everyone makes mistakes and we should make the effort to help prevent them from making another. Second-time offenders warrant a harsher approach. Steeper fines should be applied, revoke licenses and removal of the vehicle for about a year, perhaps a stint in jail. Third time, this is where it must stop. This is the time to drop the hammer. Prison time for several years. No driver’s privileges for 10 years, or life. There should be no excuse for a fourth or fifth DUI. Far too many have this and more under their belt. It needs to stop.

What about when drunk drivers cause an accident that injures, or worse yet, kills people? I propose we jump directly to my third-time status rules and go from there. There should no excuse to let someone back on the streets or behind the wheel who has injured or killed another person while driving drunk.

Give judges looser sentencing guidelines so they can really dish out justice in better and even creative ways. Be more aware of the rights of the victims. Make sure all go through proper due process, but keep in mind to try and work to the offender off the street as much as the law allows.

Remember this, it may be you and your family walking on the side of the road or behind the wheel going to a movie when a drunk comes around the corner in a vehicle he or she has no business driving. Sadly, it has happened more than once, and will likely happen again.

I don’t know whether any of my ideas would work. But there is no denying that Alaska has a major alcohol and drug problem and something must be done about it. I do know this situation will never change if our only response is to throw up our hands and tell ourselves drunken driving is just too complex to ever fix. We can’t give up. We must look this problem dead in the eye and say no more — no more to the revolving door.

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.