Arizona DUI Laws Could Ease Up Soon
Arizona is widely considered to be one of the toughest states when it comes to drunk driving laws. Nowhere in the nation is jail time more expected and longer for some first offense cases, and nowhere is a case harder to win.
Each year, the Arizona Legislature seems to propose tougher sanctions on DUI drivers. Past increases in the severity of the laws have ranger from adding weeks to jail sentences to adding years to the time a person must have an ignition interlock device following a drunk driving conviction.
Now, there are new proposals, which, if voted into law, would either eliminate or cut in half the time a first offense Arizona DUI convict must spend with an ignition interlock breath test device in their vehicle.
Part of the justification for the proposed law appears to be that the death rate, which is usually high in Arizona, has decreased. Any intelligent person must wonder about that logic. If deaths have decreased then, assuming that is viewed as a good thing, why change the law? Eliminating the need for interlock devices couldn't possibly save lives. If something isn't broken, you don't fix it... right?
Could it be that, as the DUI death toll decreases (for whatever reason), politicians can use it less as a hot button issue?
