Road to Excess

By Christine Orth

Last December, 6-year-old Devin Lehman-O'Neal lost his life when 51-year-old Madison attorney Eric Stearn ran a stop sign, slammed his sports utility vehicle into the car the child was in and fled the scene in a panic. Stearn, a repeat drunk driver with four previous operating while intoxicated (OWI) arrests, admitted he had been drinking for much of the day the accident occurred. And indeed, his 0.193 percent blood alcohol content (BAC) was nearly twice the legal limit at the time.

This case typifies what many people consider the most common and most dangerous drunk driver: a repeat offender and problem drinker who kills or maims while loaded with two or three times the legal limit of alcohol. What many don't realize, however, is that people who haven't yet been convicted of an OWI are also central to Wisconsin's drunk driving problem.

As Stearn awaited sentencing and prison, 27-year-old Amy Blahnik finished work at her west-side office. Eager to put all the phone calls, meetings and deadlines out of her mind, she hopped in her car and drove downtown to Crave, a posh, new cocktail lounge, for some hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. As Blahnik finished her second martini, the good-looking man next to her offered to buy her a third drink. Realizing that she had a 20-minute drive home ahead of her, she kindly declined his offer and instead ordered a glass of water. The couple continued to talk and eventually exchanged phone numbers before Blahnik decided to call it a night. Behind the wheel of her VW Jetta, she checked all her mirrors before pulling out of her parking space, merging with traffic and heading safely back home.

Blahnik’s night could have easily taken a different turn had she decided to accept that last glass of alcohol. At 109 pounds, Blahnik could have easily pushed her BAC level well over the legal limit with a third drink within one hour. While both Blahnik and Stearn consumed alcoholic beverages, only Stearn’s BAC measured far beyond Wisconsin’s legal drinking and driving limit, making him a dangerous figure on the road: the drunk driver.

According to the state Department of Transportation, police in Wisconsin arrested 37,077 people for drunk driving in 2001. By the end of the year, 764 people died in traffic accidents. Alcohol alone factored into 40 percent of those crashes, and a combination of speed and alcohol factored into an additional 16 percent of the crashes. In the face of such alarming statistics, Wisconsin, like many other states across the nation, decided to address the deadly problem and take legislative action.

New Legislation

On July 3, 2003, Gov. Jim Doyle signed legislation to lower Wisconsin’s BAC limit from 0.10 to 0.08 percent in an effort to curb the number of drunk driving fatalities. Since then, supporters and critics of the new law have questioned its effectiveness in combating drunk driving. As the debate continues over whether the 0.08 legislation can make the public more aware about of the hazards of drinking and driving, the question still remains: Who exactly are Wisconsin’s drunk drivers?

Lt. Dan Lonsdorf, a member of the Wisconsin State Highway Patrol for the past 24 years, acknowledges that drunk drivers are not a definable, homogenous group. Rather they come from all different cultural, economic and social walks of life. While 79 percent of first-time OWI offenders and 85 percent of repeat OWI offenders are males, Lonsdorf notes that police still pull over a significant number of women. And of the people who were arrested for OWI in 2001, 82 percent had a BAC of 0.10 or above. In fact, the median BAC for those arrested for OWI stands at 0.17, more than double the 0.08 threshold.

But social drinkers like Amy Blahnik should not feel immune to the new 0.08 law simply because they aren’t raging alcoholics with repeat drunk driving offenses. “People commonly think that OWI offenders are hardcore alcoholics and habitual drunk drivers,” Lonsdorf says. “In truth, about 70 to 75 percent of those arrested for OWI citations are first-time offenders.” Lonsdorf also adds that law enforcement officers in Wisconsin have the authority to arrest drivers for an OWI regardless of their BAC level.

“The new law won’t change anything the police do,” Lonsdorf says. “We still look out for the same erratic driving behaviors, and if a person’s driving is impaired at 0.06, we’ll arrest them and get them off the road.”

Even though first-time offenders commit the majority of OWI offenses, 80 percent of Wisconsinites convicted do not get arrested again. But the rationale behind the 0.08 standard is to remind people, mainly social drinkers, not to place themselves in a position where they are driving drunk and risk the chances of an OWI arrest in the first place.

“Point-zero-eight is a step in the right direction,” Lonsdorf says. “It gets the message out to the public that they must be more responsible and think twice about drinking that ‘last one for the road.’ But still, the best advice I can give to anyone is that if you’re going to drink, don’t drive. Just don’t do it at all.”

But for a person like Stearn who is too intoxicated to make that sort of rational decision, warnings from the public, law enforcement, family and friends often go unheard. The problem, experts say, is that alcoholics suffer from an uncontrollable addiction to alcohol.

Alcoholism as a Social Illness

Ultimately, alcoholism hinders a person’s ability to recognize the dangers of drinking and driving and makes him unresponsive to the penalties involved. Opponents of 0.08 say that the law shifts attention away from the pervasive problem of alcoholics who drive. Instead of trying to close the loopholes in existing laws and programs and provide help for those who are dependent on alcohol, critics say, society simply ignores the problem.

Research has found that compared to other drivers, hardcore drunk drivers often are more aggressive, hostile and thrill-seeking. Also, they are more likely to have a criminal record, use drugs and have poor driving records. But in reality, the profile of the repeat offender extends beyond a simple list of characteristic traits and tendencies. A growing number of experts and activists believe a deeper social issue is at work. To truly understand Wisconsin’s hardcore drunk driver, they say, it is important to also examine the place of alcohol in American popular and leisure culture.

“Alcohol makes up an important part of our culture’s social fabric,” says Ralph Kalal, a Madison attorney who has defended drunk drivers for the past 30 years. “Our Legislature has invested its efforts in making it legal to drink alcohol and as a result, we as a society face all sorts of consequences.” Kalal notes that alcoholism often costs people their jobs, economic stability and marriages, and can lead to devastating life crises such as injury and even death.

The big problem Kalal sees is that while society makes it acceptable for people to drink alcohol, it does not accept responsibility for the consequences that follow. As long as American culture shifts the blame of drunk driving onto the “villain” or the alcoholic, rather than accepting responsibility itself, Kalal says, the costs of drunk driving will continue to mount. In addition, alcohol abuse becomes more socially accepted, making alcoholism less of a priority for the government to manage. “Ultimately, our legislation fails to remedy the real problem of trying to deter, detect, punish and change the behavior of someone who is out of control,” Kalal says. “Addiction is not a moral issue that represents bad habit although the public often thinks of it as such.”

Dealing with the Problem

According to Kalal, a hardcore drunk driver cannot be cured by punishments such as jail time, fines, probation and license revocation. As an alternative approach to dealing with the problem, he suggests that legislation mobilize an effective system of intervention and treatment that directly tackles the issue. “Legislation needs to start caring about solving the problem of alcoholism, as opposed to just looking like they’re doing something with empty, superficial laws like 0.08.”

Still, many supporters of the new 0.08 BAC level say it is helping to bring to an end the tragic new chapters that are written every day in the annals of Wisconsin drunk driving. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, someone is either killed or injured in an alcohol-related crash in Wisconsin every 74 minutes. A staggering statistic like this is a red flag to legislators that something must be done to make Wisconsin’s roads safer.

In addressing the problem, it seems that two distinct types of drunk drivers have emerged: the social drinker like Amy Blahnik who has control over the amount of alcohol she consumes, and the repeat offenders who consume alcohol frequently and in large quantities without the will to control their intake. While both have the potential to kill, stark differences between the two drunk drivers have critics demanding different and appropriate legislative approaches for reducing the number of drunk driving convictions. Even if it means saving only one more life each year, it’s something most find well worth the effort.

For more information, visit the following sites:

Mind, Body, Soul: Fun facts, games and quizzes provide you with an interesting way to learn more about alcohol and the effects it has on your body.

The Department of Transportation 2001 Crash Facts: This site is loaded with information regarding alcohol-related crashes in Wisconsin. This page keys users in on who Wisconsin's drunk driving offenders are, as well as the magnitude of the problem.

Alcohol User Disorder Identification Test: This site is for people curious whether they or someone they know has a drinking problem. After completing the survey, users are given a diagnosis based on their responses, as well as a recommendation of action to take (for example, they can learn more about alcohol or where to find help).