***image2***A horrific tragedy caps a year of high-profile DWI initiatives.
One accident. That's all it took to sear the issue of drunk driving into the collective psyche of New Mexicans once more.
On Nov. 11, Tesuque resident Dana Papst swerved his pickup truck south into the northbound lanes of Interstate 25 before slamming his vehicle into a minivan carrying six members of a Las Vegas family.
Papst, who'd been drinking heavily, was killed. So was the entire family, save 15-year-old Arissa Garcia [Outtakes, Nov. 22: "
"].
New Mexico, which has long suffered from one of the highest DWI rates in the country, is no stranger to tragic DWI accidents and widespread efforts to combat the issue. This
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accident, though, perhaps because of the heart-wrenching scope of the tragedy, seemed to draw renewed attention to an issue that many New Mexicans believe will never go away.
In addition to sparking community outrage, the Papst crash galvanized the Richardson administration into creating a DWI Strike Force, made up of law enforcement officials and DWI experts.
State DWI czar Rachel O'Connor says the Strike Force is wrapping up its work, with a full report due on Dec. 22. Look for O'Connor's office, as per the forthcoming report, to redouble its efforts on road and highway enforcement, ignition interlocks for out-of-state DWI offenders and wrong-way driving prevention.
"We're also going to emphasize citizen responsibility in terms of stopping DWIs before they happen," O'Connor says.
The end of the year prompted a new slew of anti-DWI initiatives.
On Dec. 12, Richardson announced more than $2.6 million worth of plans, including adding more sheriff's deputies in Santa Fe County, adding New Mexico State Police to DWI checkpoints and patrols and increasing court monitoring in six New Mexico counties, including Santa Fe.
On Dec. 13, Attorney General Patricia Madrid, along with AG-elect Gary King, announced legislative proposals for next year, including strengthening ignition interlock laws, enhancing DWI sentences and providing prosecutors more legal flexibility in going after offenders.
Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano, who has been outspoken in the push for ways to combat DWIs and whose department investigated the Papst crash, wants to see voluntary breath machines in local bars. The machines would allow patrons to test themselves on whether they've had too much to drink and shouldn't be driving.
"I think we should mandate them," Solano says. "They're inexpensive, they're voluntary and it would
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allow people to see if they really should get behind the wheel. I was pushing for this a year ago, but it never took wings."
This year already marked increased penalties for bars and wait staff that serve minors or inebriated people.
But even with the increased legislative and civic awareness following the Garcia crash, it could be just a matter of time before New Mexicans awake to read news accounts of another bloody accident. Such a scenario almost happened Dec. 9 when Julio Hernandez was arrested by a sheriff's deputy after he allegedly drove his Ford Mustang north in the southbound lanes of US 84/285. Hernandez was allegedly drunk, according to police.
The scenario enforces the opinion of Linda Atkinson, executive director of the DWI Resource Center in Albuquerque, who says beefed-up law enforcement is the key to combating DWI in New Mexico.
"We need to push things that don't necessarily have to do with legislation. We have got to recruit more law enforcement so they're out there patrolling highways and the streets," she says. "We are still undermanned out there, and all the research shows that the law enforcement presence, the arrests, will reduce death and injury."
Atkinson also wants DWIs moved out of municipal and magistrate courts, which are not courts of records-an idea many DWI experts have been recommending for years.
Finally, look for the DWI Resource Center to push for increased sentencing for offenders in the coming year.
In particular, Atkinson wants vehicular homicide to be a second-degree felony with a maximum 15-year penalty. "The penalty right now is too minimal," Atkinson says. "It really needs to be strengthened."
