A brief history of the DWI law
The first law against drunk driving was passed in New York in 1910. Before long, every state in the US had banned driving a car while intoxicated, which is presumably more dangerous than riding a horse. in the same state. These early laws did not specify a maximum BAC (blood alcohol concentration) nor did they describe the tests to be administered to the person accused of driving while intoxicated. They simply stated that you should not drive drunk and let the police officers and judges enforce this as they see fit.
The first maximum BAC for the driver was established in 1938: That year, it became illegal to drive with a BAC greater than .15, or 15%. This number was based on studies by the American Medical Association and the National Safety Council, who agreed that the research showed that a person with a BAC less than .15 could still drive reasonably well.
This remained the law in most of the US until the 1970s. At that time, activist groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) began campaigning for stricter DWI laws and more vigilant enforcement. Before this time, DWI was not considered too serious a crime and police officers did not always enforce it very strictly. MADD (and his group of students, SADD) felt that too many preventable deaths were the result of this laid-back attitude toward drunk driving. They successfully lobbied most states to lower their maximum BAC to .10. Now, due to the influence of the federal government, all states have a maximum BAC of .08.
Other important changes to the law followed. MADD’s involvement was one of the factors that contributed to Congress’s decision to raise the drinking age back to 21. Of course, MADD was not the only group to pay attention to this issue. From the 1970s until now, people have become more concerned and less tolerant of DWI crimes. Sobriety checkpoints have become acceptable, when at one point they were considered unfair or even unconstitutional. For drivers under the age of 21, the BAC has been lowered to .01, because legally they shouldn’t drink at all (although in some states, like Texas, minors can drink in the presence of a legal guardian.)
A current controversy in DWI law is the question of the role that law enforcement should play in addressing this issue. If a person is convicted of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, should they be punished or rehabilitated? Does the punishment approach fail to effectively address the problem, or does the rehabilitation approach just let people go too easily?