News and Press Releases for June 2007

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6/15/2007

Governor Sanford Signs Underage Drinking Bill

Governor Says Bill Again Highlights Need for Tougher DUI Laws

Columbia, S.C. - Governor Mark Sanford today signed S.213, a bill aimed at cracking down on youth's access to alcohol, while again calling for the General Assembly to get serious about toughening South Carolina's DUI laws.

S.213 increases fines and penalties for underage-drinking offenses, will make it easier for police to find out who bought kegs at parties where underage drinking occurred, will allow minors to help police by participating in stings of bars and convenience stores, and requires repeat DUI offenders to pay for an ignition interlock system to be installed in their cars.

Unfortunately, the bill does nothing to address the state's real problem with DUI - a loophole-ridden DUI law.

"While everything in this bill is certainly aimed toward a very laudable goal, let's be very clear - there's much more work to be done if we're going to stop the carnage that occurs on our state's roads because of our anemic DUI laws," Gov. Sanford said. "South Carolina consistently ranks near the top in the nation for DUI deaths, and it's largely because of a DUI law that, as one solicitor has said, is tougher to prosecute than a death penalty case. Until that changes, and until we get a DUI law that is enforceable to the point where more convictions are possible, these ignition interlocks won't have the impact that they could have. But the tragic reality is that there are some in the legislature who profit from the current loopholes in the system, which is why the Senate needs to follow the House's lead quickly next year in passing a bill that prevents so many from being killed on South Carolina's roads."

From 2004-2006 in SC, there were more than 1,500 crashes involving underage driver under the influence - resulting in 1,200 injuries and 150 fatalities. One alcohol-related death occurs on our nation's roads every 31 minutes, and one alcohol-related injury occurs every two minutes. In 2005, South Carolina ranked seventh in vehicle deaths per 100,000 miles driven, with alcohol being a significant factor in these deaths. South Carolina is 9th in the country for the percentage of drunk drivers in fatal crashes. In part due to the difficulty in getting DUI convictions, plea bargaining in DUI cases is rampant in our state - 40 percent of repeat DUI offenders in South Carolina plead guilty to lesser offenses.