MESA COUNTY- Getting behind the wheel of a
vehicle while impaired can be dangerous and deadly, to the driver and to anyone
else on the road.
Law enforcement works
daily to get drunk drivers off our roads.
“We have so much
education and so many people talking about it, and we just don’t understand why
people still drink and drive,” said Trooper Glen Hunter with Colorado State
Patrol.
The numbers in Mesa
County, however, are dropping.
CSP said in 2015 there
were 248 DUI’s in Mesa County. One year later, that number dropped to 226.
Prosecutors have seen
that trend as well.
“We actually have an
18.5 percent decrease in DUI offenses comparing 2015 to 2016,” said Mesa County
District Attorney, Dan Rubinstein.
A large problem is
habitual offenders.
“You can see a loss of
license, money, possible jail time, community service,” Trooper Hunter said.
“There are a lot of things that impact you when you get arrested for DUI.”
On Wednesday, May 4, a
bill to increase the penalties repeat offenders face passed the state Senate
and now sits on the Governor Hickenlooper's desk, waiting for approval.
Rubinstein said when
lawmakers were putting the felony DUI into effect a few years back, they took a
look into how jurisdictions around the state were sentencing these cases.
“Sometimes they end up
with softer sentences on a first felony DUI then they would on a 4th or 5th
misdemeanor DUI,” he said. “That because some district court judges are used to
seeing more serious type felonies like sexual assaults or murders.”
He said lawmakers don’t
see those problems here in Mesa County.
However, this law would make penalties similar, across the board.
However, this law would make penalties similar, across the board.
“What the legislature is
trying to do, is make sure the judges are realizing the point of a felony DUI.
We now have at least three priors and jail time is really appropriate in all
cases,” he said.
The next step for the
bill will be approval or denial by Governor John Hickenlooper.
“It’s simple,” Trooper
Hunter explained. “Just don’t drink and drive.”
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