Last spring, Washington state and Whatcom County were held liable for damages of more than $5 million in a DUI case. In case you have forgotten I will help you to remember: A woman was arrested for DUI, she was supposed to have an ignition interlock device in her car but did not. Due to overcrowding at the jail she was not booked and due to overturned impound cases at the Whatcom County District Court level her car was not impounded.
So as a possible solution to the problem, the arresting trooper drove her a distance of approximately nine miles to her home and told her to stay there until she sobered up. Being a repeat offender, this individual immediately got a ride back to her car from someone and drove drunk for the second time in one night. This time she hit someone head on and almost killed that person. That person was Hailey French.
There is currently no law in Washington state that requires the impoundment or hold of a vehicle after a DUI arrest. There are jails all over Washington state that are too crowded to book and hold people arrested for DUI's so what some of these people do is go right back to their car and drive it home. That is a threat to public safety.After the judgment last spring, I started working with State Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale. We have written and proposed a bill to Olympia that will help prevent these occurrences from happening. It is House Bill 2565, "Hailey's Law."
The bill simply states that if you are arrested for a DUI then the vehicle you are driving will be impounded. If you are the vehicle owner then the vehicle will be held for 12 hours.
Why a 12-hour hold? Most DUI's occur in the middle of the night therefore making the vehicle available in the middle of the day during normal business hours. In addition, picking up any vehicle during normal business hours saves the vehicle owner money in "after hours" fees.
Why is the hold only for the vehicle owner? Under current state law only the vehicle owner may redeem an impounded vehicle therefore if you don't own the car there is not a threat of you redeeming it.
Why am I so involved? Yes, I am the owner of a towing company in Bellingham, but more importantly I have lived here since I was 6 years old. I went to school in the county and I am involved with many groups locally. My biggest fear as a tow operator is responding to an accident where I know the victim, let alone could have done something to help prevent it.
Must we wait until we know a victim before we work on resolve?
Please support HB 2565 "Hailey's Law' and do your part to keep Whatcom County safe.
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Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Hailey's Law would impound Washington DUI vehicles
A bill proposed to the Washington state legislature would provide for the immediate impounding of a vehicle involved in a DUI arrest.
This is not the first such provision attempted in any state. New Mexico cities use the option at their discretion, and some cities in Arizona do the same. Utah uses a mandatory vehicle impound law called the "Not a Drop" law.
The suggested bill in Washington is named after Hailey French, who suffered life threatening injuries in a DUI accident last year. The situation is unique because French was injured by a driver who had been arrested for DUI just hours before that same evening. The driver was supposed to have an ignition interlock in her car from a previous conviction, but she did not have one.
The driver should have been taken to jail, but, since jails were overcrowded, the trooper instead had to deliver the driver to her home and ask she remain there for the evening. The driver did not follow this order, getting back into her car and eventually hitting French in a second DUI offense that night.
State Rep. Doug Erickson, R-Ferndale, is behind Hailey's Law. This law requires the vehicle of a DUI driver to be impounded for 12 hours, if the driver owns the vehicle. If the vehicle belongs to another owner, the owner may come pick up the car.
This bill aims to prevent a situation where a DUI driver could get back on the road hours after an arrest. Instead, the driver will have to wait until the next day at least to pick up the car. The fee to pick up the car can be high, which may serve as a deterrent to driving under the influence. Further, impound fees in other areas go toward combatting drunk driving through law enforcement funding.
Source
This is not the first such provision attempted in any state. New Mexico cities use the option at their discretion, and some cities in Arizona do the same. Utah uses a mandatory vehicle impound law called the "Not a Drop" law.
The suggested bill in Washington is named after Hailey French, who suffered life threatening injuries in a DUI accident last year. The situation is unique because French was injured by a driver who had been arrested for DUI just hours before that same evening. The driver was supposed to have an ignition interlock in her car from a previous conviction, but she did not have one.
The driver should have been taken to jail, but, since jails were overcrowded, the trooper instead had to deliver the driver to her home and ask she remain there for the evening. The driver did not follow this order, getting back into her car and eventually hitting French in a second DUI offense that night.
State Rep. Doug Erickson, R-Ferndale, is behind Hailey's Law. This law requires the vehicle of a DUI driver to be impounded for 12 hours, if the driver owns the vehicle. If the vehicle belongs to another owner, the owner may come pick up the car.
This bill aims to prevent a situation where a DUI driver could get back on the road hours after an arrest. Instead, the driver will have to wait until the next day at least to pick up the car. The fee to pick up the car can be high, which may serve as a deterrent to driving under the influence. Further, impound fees in other areas go toward combatting drunk driving through law enforcement funding.
Source
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