Coming Soon? A Prohibition on Alcohol for Drunk Drivers

It looks like some folks think the cart is before the horse, instead of the other way around. I just learned that Idaho has gotten pretty creative in its attempts to curb DUI's. Instead of attacking the crime of DUI, state legislators considered a ban on buying or possessing, yes that means consuming, alcohol.

March 10, Boise, ID

A North Idaho lawmaker’s bid to ban repeat drunken drivers from drinking fell short Monday in a House committee, which killed the bill by one vote.

Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, developed the proposal to ban repeat drunken drivers from buying, consuming or possessing alcohol for anywhere from five years to life, depending on the offense, as a new way to target repeat drunken drivers.

Clark, who himself had a DUI in 1999, acknowledged that his bill didn’t address out-of-state residents, who wouldn’t have the special licenses and so still could drink in Idaho even if they were repeat DUI offenders; and that it was unclear how people with withheld judgments would be affected.

Representative Clark will be back and this Chicago DUI lawyer suspects news of this legislation will spread throughout the country with other states, including Illinois, looking to put forward similar legislation.