Warner Signs 25 New Drunk Driving Bills

RICHMOND, Va. - Gov. Mark R. Warner signed 25 new drunken driving bills Thursday, endorsing some of the nation's most stringent penalties for people who drink and drive.

The General Assembly considered more than 60 pieces of legislation dealing with drunken driving during the session earlier this year, several of which derived from a special task force Warner convened two years ago to study the problem.

Many of the new laws, which will take effect July 1, target repeat offenders and drivers with high blood-alcohol levels. One of the more controversial measures would allow the state to seize a person's car following a third DUI conviction in 10 years, which some opponents say could unfairly hurt that person's family.

Other bills passed by the General Assembly and approved by Warner will:

-Reduce the blood alcohol content for drunken drivers, from .20 to .15, for mandatory jail terms of five days on a first offense, 20 days for a second offense.

-Require a mandatory two-day jail term for a blood alcohol content between .12 and .15 percent.

-Allow police to arrest a person for drunken driving within three hours of a crash, without a warrant and at any location.

-Deny bail for repeat DUI offenders with three prior convictions within the past five years.

-Require an ignition interlock system be installed on cars driven by offenders who receive a restricted license for a DUI conviction involving a minimum .15 blood alcohol content.

"This really is an all-out assault on drunk driving," Warner said before he signed the 25 bills. "The message you are sending loud and clear is that if you drink and drive or use drugs and drive, you are not welcome on Virginia's roads."

Warner technically signed the bills into law last month. Thursday's bill-signing on the Capitol steps was only ceremonial.

Republican Del. Rob Bell, sponsor of several of the bills, said the package of new laws makes Virginia one of the toughest in the country on drunken driving. He said, for example, only a couple other states have experimented with a similar car forfeiture measure for a third DUI offense.

Bell, of Albemarle, said he hopes the harsher laws will help bring down drunken driving accident deaths that have remained level in Virginia since the early 1990s.

For those who are "really, truly drunk," he warned, "catch another ride, get a designated driver, sleep it off, do anything but get behind a wheel and drive."

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)