Is there any concern that Senate Bill 658 — the proposed law allowing the sale of wine to be sold in grocery stores — will have any effect on drunken driving violations?

DS: Definitive no. The law proposed by Sen. Clark Jolley of Edmond will be referred to a 20-member task force for further analysis. This will probably result in a bill during the next Legislative session. People will buy and drink regardless of the seller.

Would the availability or proposed greater availability of alcohol via the “happy hour law” impact DUI arrests and/ or accidents?

DS: It’s possible, but will it really change anything? (At press time,) the state Legislature is currently considering House Bill 1354, which would allow Oklahoma restaurants, clubs and bars to offer greater availability of alcohol during certain times of the day by offering deals or specials.

The debate is whether these types of laws would entice restaurant and bar customers to drink more and then drive, perhaps making our city streets more dangerous.

While this may be a concern for some, it does not change the law controlling waitresses and bartenders who should be keeping tabs on a customer and making sure they have not had too much to drink. This is the first obvious line of defense.

A review of major metropolitan cities that have these types of specials indicate they do not have any more significant difference in DUIrelated offenses.

I frequented a half-dozen restaurants and clubs and found, despite the law not having been passed, many establishments have “drink specials” and happy hour already in effect.

So the question remains, would a law on the books have any real change in personal behavior and drinking?

DS: While the jury is obviously still out – and insiders at the state Capitol report the bill will likely not make it into law – it appears doubtful that this proposed change in legislation will have any real effect on DUI arrests and related crimes.

What about the effectiveness of police using DUI checkpoints lately?

DS: The jury is still out on that, too. A lot of publicity has been recently broadcast about law enforcement agencies working together and setting up DUI checkpoints.

Three weeks ago, 50 arrests for DUI were made in one day.
“Getting a good statistical number of actual DUI arrests in Oklahoma is almost impossible.”

The last DUI checkpoint only netted five arrests.

According to Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel, his office advertises and puts out the time and location of the roadblock in advance. He indicated to the media that the reason for advertising on Twitter and other social media websites is to create a general “deterrent for the public” to not drink and drive.

Why would he give the general public a heads-up?

DS: A long line of legal cases actually says such roadblocks are illegal unless they are advertised. If Charles Sifers (DUI defense attorney) is correct that DUI arrests are down, perhaps the real reason for more DUI checkpoints is to get the number of arrests back up.

And why would they want to get those numbers back up?

DS: Perhaps it is public safety, but perhaps another reason is that DUI arrests are fine-based and raise revenue for local authorities.

The average court cost for a felony charge in Oklahoma is just over $200 per charge. The average court cost for a firsttime misdemeanor DUI is over $700 — three times as much.

To further cause one to question the effectiveness of DUI checkpoints, a private corporation — PhantomAlert. com — has come up with a new iPhone app to give subscribers an alert for DUI checkpoints.

The CEO, Joe Scott, says after a call from four prominent U.S. senators in Washington to remove and recall the app because it was “harmful to public safety,” their sales were up 3,000%.

The app can be used in conjunction with your GPS and will actually steer you away from the DUI checkpoint. The future effectiveness of checkpoints seems to be in greater question.

Is the trend in DUI-related arrests and fatality accidents up or down?

DS: Down. Despite many very highly publicized murder and manslaughter cases being prosecuted involving alcohol, and much media attention to individual cases, according to the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office, in two of the last three years, there has been a decline in DUI-related fatality accidents.

In 2009, there were 209 alcohol-related crashes that ended in fatalities. That was a decrease of 9.9%. It should also be noted that 2008 had a slight increase (232) from 2007, which had only 198.

But getting a good statistical number of actual DUI arrests in Oklahoma is almost impossible, as there is no central reporting agency.

Attorney Charles Sifers indicated the trend is fewer arrests for DUI. He attributed the reduced arrest rate not in lack of law enforcement, but rather a 40-year shift is societal attitudinal change in thinking. The public thinks it is no longer OK to drive drunk.

Some would compare the shift in thinking much like the attitudinal shift and change in smoking. Thus, the decline is probably more the result of education and advertising as opposed to arrests and tougher laws.