Wisconsin leads US in drunken driving

A federal report released Thursday on drinking and driving offered good news and bad news regarding its prevalence in Wisconsin.

The number of Wisconsin drivers who reported operating while intoxicated fell by nearly 3 percent from a similar report released in 2008.

But Wisconsin continues to lead the nation in the percentage of drivers who take the wheel after drinking. Nearly one in four drivers admitted driving under the influence.

"This survey demonstrates Wisconsin has a long way to go to show drunk driving is not tolerable," said Frank Harris, a state policy specialist with Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The report, released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, says 23.7 percent of Wisconsin drivers surveyed acknowledged having driven under the influence within a year.

Nationally, the number of drivers who admitted driving under the influence fell from 14.6 percent in statistics compiled from 2002 to 2005 to 13.2 percent in the current survey, which covered 2006 through 2009.

Harris said Wisconsin's new drunken- driving law that took effect in July marked a step forward for the state.

The law created a felony charge for fourth-time drunken drivers and required use of ignition interlock devices for all drunken drivers, except first-time offenders with a blood-alcohol concentration of less than 0.15 percent. The law made first-offense drunken driving a misdemeanor when a child is in the vehicle.

MADD next year will push for Wisconsin to adopt sobriety checkpoints. The organization would like to see interlock devices for all drunken drivers. All first-time drunken-driving offenses should be crimes rather than traffic citations, Harris said.

Wisconsin was one of 10 states where 17 percent or more of those surveyed acknowledged driving under the influence.

It's not just the law that has to change, Harris said. It's also the culture.

Education has to continue.

Harris said there's still a misconception that having a beer at a Packers game would put a driver at risk for arrest.

Reaching the 0.08 percent threshold for drunken driving takes far more than that.

"It's not social drinking," he said. "It's binge drinking."

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