A Brief History of DWI Law

The first law against drunk driving was passed in New York in 1910. Presently, all U.S. states had banned driving a car while intoxicated, which is probably more dangerous than riding in the same state. These early laws did not specify a maximum alcohol (concentration of alcohol in the blood) or describe the test administration accused of drunk driving. It merely stated that one should not drive drunk and left the police and judges to enforce the way they see fit.

The first BAC limit for drivers was created in 1938: that year, it became illegal to drive with a BAC over 0.15, or 15%. This number is based on studies by the American Medical Association and the National Security Council, who agreed that the investigation showed that a person with a BAC at 0.15 could drive reasonably well.

This remains the law in most U.S. until 1970. While activist groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) launched a campaign for stricter DWI laws and a more vigilant. Before this time, DWI was not considered an extremely serious crime, and police officers do not always meet very strict. MADD (and its students, SADD) believes that too many preventable deaths as a result of this lax attitude toward drunk driving. Which lobbied successfully to most states in reducing their maximum BAC of 0.10. Now, because of the influence of the federal government, all states have a maximum BAC of 0.08.

Other important changes in the law followed. MADD's participation was one of the factors contributing to the decision of Congress to raise the legal drinking age back to 21. Of course, MADD was not the only group to pay attention to this problem. From the 1970s until now, people have become more concerned and less tolerant of DWI offense. Sobriety checkpoints have become acceptable, when at one point they were considered very unfair or unconstitutional, even. For those under 21 years, BAC has fallen to 0.01, and legally should not drink at all (although in some states, like Texas, minors are allowed to drink in the presence of a legal guardian.)

A current controversy in the DWI laws is the issue of enforcement means a role to play in solving this problem. If a person is convicted of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, which must be punished or rehabilitated? Penalty approach is not effectively address the problem, or rehabilitation approach is simply to let people off too easy?

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