SANDUSKY

Eight DUIs. Eleven. Fourteen.

And that's just for the Sandusky Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

The Ohio Department of Public Safety issues a monthly publication, The Hot Sheet News, that features the state's habitual impaired offenders and how many prior convictions they've had. In the October 2006 issue, 80 drivers, all with at least five drunk driving offenses, made up the report from across the state.

In 2005, alcohol contributed to 38 percent of traffic fatalities in the state, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Officials lay it out this way: it seems despite mandatory minimum sentences, outpatient treatment and technology purported to prevent drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel, the nature of drunk driving means the system just can't keep some people from driving drunk.

And some hope new technology and increases in funding for law enforcement can help.

First line of defense

Law enforcement does what it can with what men and materiel it has, said Ohio State Highway Patrol Sandusky Post Lt. Greg Greggila,

On any given Saturday night/Sunday morning, the busiest night for OVI besides certain holidays, there are a maximum four troopers for Erie and Ottawa counties, the most the patrol can afford, Greggila said. The patrol wants more, but just can't put men out there they can't pay for.

"I'd be great to put more guys out," he said. "But it's a matter of funding and manpower on a statewide level."

Law enforcement has to choose between patrolling high-traffic areas and areas that traditionally have had higher crash rates. Even though one intersection might have several alcohol-related fatalities, there's still a better chance a crash could happen at a more frequently traveled area.

Some local agencies, like the patrol and local county sheriff's offices, get grants from the state and federal level for overtime specifically for road patrols to combat drunk driving.

Those nights usually fall on traditionally high drinking days or holidays so as to maximize their impact.

Still, that's maybe five or six periods during the year. With current staffing and funding, law enforcement can only do so much, he said.

"I think we're doing everything we can," Greggila said.

Legal restraints

A first DUI conviction usually scares most people straight, said Sandusky Municipal Court judge Erich J. O'Brien. After conviction No. 2, however, treatment must become an option. Figuring out that treatment/punishment ratio can be difficult.

"It isn't like math where two plus two equals four," he said. "Each circumstance can be different."

Four drunk driving charges in six years or six charges in 20 years should earn offenders their first felony indictment, moving their case to the county level in Ohio.

But even then, discouragement, penalization and suspension can only go so far, said Erie County assistant prosecutor Jeanne Lippert, the prosecutor who handles the county's felony DUI cases. The county saw 18 drunk driving indictments in 2006, 18 in 2005 and 19 in 2004.

Lacking a license doesn't prevent drunk drivers physically from operating vehicles, and some people just can't be persuaded to stop.

Lippert faces a dilemma with each case. Have previous judges treated each of the suspects previous convictions as DUIs, or have they plead the violations down to other charges? Did the suspect have counsel or knowingly waive counsel, on record, in the previous cases, as required by Ohio law?

Lippert knows the offenders have had some treatment and some jail time by the time they reach the common pleas court. She doesn't know what will work in each case, however. Jail and prison overcrowding, combined with the lack of local inpatient treatment and money to pay for that treatment, make it difficult to do more than temporarily keep the person off the street without tackling their obvious substance abuse problem.

"We've been able to start... suspending prison over DUI defendants' heads," she said. "Most of these people don't want to go to prison."

Judges have some power at this level in the case, too. Erie County Common Pleas judge Roger E. Binette makes defendants who get out of prison with multiple DUIs attend a special MADD-sponsored DUI program and a treatment program in Cleveland. Judge Tygh M. Tone usually tries to make sure mandatory minimum 60-day sentences get extended when they need to and treatment is used and paid for when it can be afforded, he said.

When it comes to preventing more fatalities and offenses, prosecutors and judges at the county level feel they're doing all they can within the law and other limitations.

"Is it treatment? Is it stiffer penalties? I don't know what else we can do," Lippert said.

Treatment

The driver dealing with a substance abuse problem -- all those interviewed said anyone who gets to the felony level has a substance abuse problem -- needs treatment to combat that addiction, said former probation officer Bill Kimberlin. Only then will someone who habitually drives drunk have a chance at beating the underlying cause.

"It's not that (drunk drivers) have a desire to get behind the wheel," said Kimberlin, who's earned his Ph.D in psychology and has done extensive studying and research on substance abuse and treatment. "They desire to drink. The driving is the machine or tool to get them from point A to point B."

In-house treatment works better than outpatient. Alcohol and drugs are easily obtainable, and if an addict has the desire to get them, they can. Inpatient treatment keeps the patients away from those temptations until they have a chance to beat the addiction.

Finding that sort of treatment, and the money to pay for it in Erie County is difficult, though. Erie County doesn't have an in-house treatment facility. Lorain and Seneca counties have the closest inpatient centers for those ordered for inpatient treatment, Kimberlin said. The treatment can be costly: sometimes up to $30,000 per month. Many multiple DUI offenders who need that sort of care can't afford it and don't have health insurance. Courts barely have the money to operate, let alone pay for medical treatment proven to work better than the simple Alcoholics Anonymous meeting or outpatient care facility.

Tax payers must determine if they want to pay to treat some of these individuals or put more enforcement in place.

As important as treatment is, however, it still leaves the issue of physically operating a car while intoxicated during a relapse or for those who still don't get treatment.

"You can't restrict their movement with treatment," Kimberlin said.

New technology

Some new technologies developed for vehicles to combat drunk driving can restrict movement by measuring blood alcohol levels.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving Ohio spokesperson Doug Scoles said new technologies could soon make it physically impossible for people who are impaired by alcohol to turn on cars.

Products like the Interlock, a breath-test device that prevents people who blow a certain, set level of BAC into it from starting a car, can prevent impaired drivers from starting their cars. Ohio does not require these to be installed, but MADD is pushing for a law similar to one in New Mexico requiring all convicted drunk drivers to have one installed. Other technologies could soon detect BAC through the sweat in a driver's fingers on the steering wheel.

Requiring detection in all cars would work wonders to prevent drunk driving in the future, Scoles said.

"We do not so much want to put (drunk drivers) behind bars," Scoles said. "(The main goal) is to get them off the road."

Technology, combined with enforcement and treatment, could work wonders for MADD's goal of completely eliminating drunk driving.

"There's no one magic bullet to stop drunk driving," he said. "But the biggest steps will be the technological advancements.