Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Drunk Driving in Wisconsin


The Wisconsin State Assembly passed some pretty piss poor legislation to "toughen" drunken driving laws. Wisconsin is still the only state where the first drunken driving offense in not a crime but a civil infraction. Now under the new "tough" laws the first offense is crime, only if there is a minor in the car and the 4th offense (not the 5th) is a felony, but only if the 4th offense occurs within 5 years of the 3rd offense. Only one other state, North Dakota, lets repeat drunks off the hook for a felony until the 4th offense. A third offense felony is pretty standard.

On the bright side, considering that a good chunk of lawmakers have been pulled over after having a few too many, the Assembly didn't loosen the drunk driving laws.

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