Feds say MA could do more to stop drunken driving

This from today’s Boston Globe (Boston.com). We wholeheartedly agree with the Feds! Let’s get something started, Worcester!

- R. T.

By Boston Globe Staff:

“Federal transportation safety experts say Massachusetts is among the eight states that have done the least to stop hardcore drunken driving.

“The National Transportation Safety Board, which is holding a news conference Thursday on the measures that states can take, has made 11 recommendations intended to stop what the agency calls “hard core drinking driving,” which is defined as either driving with a prior DWI arrest or a blood alcohol content of 0.15 or more.

“Six states have implemented eight or more of the recommendations; 36 have implemented five or more. Eight, including Massachusetts, have implemented four or fewer, the NTSB said in a statement.

“The feds would like the state to enact, among other proposals, laws requiring convicted DWI offenders to maintain a zero blood alcohol level while driving; restricting the plea bargaining of a DWI offense to a lesser, non-alcohol-related offense; and eliminating diversion programs that would erase a DWI offense record or allow the offender to avoid license suspension.

“The agency said that in 2009, 7,607 of the of the 10,839 people killed in alcohol-related crashes were killed in accidents involving hardcore drunken drivers.”