• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Home
  • Firm Overview
    • COVID-19 Response
  • Attorneys
    • Richard Cordell Low
    • Matthew A. Grosh
    • Brad Zuke
  • Staff
    • Diane Coyle
    • Susan Dreyer
    • Erin Hirschmann
    • Christina Warfel
    • Jeanna Johnson
  • Blog
  • Articles
  • Contact
Herr & Low Logo

We Take It Personally.

  • PH: 717-397-7544

PA legislators approve bill to remove repeat DUI offender ‘loophole’

In 2012, Pennsylvania accidents involving drivers with blood-alcohol contents greater than .01 percent caused 8,724 injuries, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Accidents involving legally intoxicated drivers caused 408 deaths, representing 31 percent of all accidents resulting in death. Such accidents have directly affected many people in Lancaster.

Despite the obvious danger these drivers put other motorists in, for the last few years, many repeat DUI offenders have escaped appropriate punishment. Fortunately, a new bill corrects this oversight, a change that should help reduce state DUI accidents.

Recognizing repeat offenders

In 2009, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court determined that drivers could not be treated legally as DUI offenders until they were convicted of a prior DUI, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. If a driver was arrested for DUI and then arrested again before being convicted of the original charge, both charges would count as first offenses.

One egregious case illustrates the shortcomings of this policy. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the following facts on the case:

  • In less than one year, a Villanova man was arrested for driving intoxicated five times. During each arrest, the man’s blood-alcohol content was far above the legal limit.
  • Based on the recorded BAC levels, after the first charge, the man should have faced 90 days of jail time for the second charge and a year of jail time for each subsequent charge. However, under the Supreme Court precedent, each conviction had to be treated as a “first offense.”
  • The man only was sentenced to 10 days in jail for each charge, or 50 days total.

The new legislation lets judges take multiple DUI arrests into account, even if sentencing has not yet taken place. The bill also addresses another loophole, which allowed repeat offenders to refuse to take a sobriety test and receive a weaker penalty than they would have received for consenting to the test and failing it.

The Senate unanimously passed the legislation in October, and Gov. Tom Corbett’s office reported that he would sign it, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Once effective, the legislation should help protect motorists against drunk driver accidents involving repeat offenders.

Proven dangerous drivers

Findings from the National Department of Transportation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which are shared on MADD’s website, point to the danger repeat offenders pose. Even first-time offenders are often repeat offenders, having driven intoxicated an average of 80 times before the first arrest. The behavior may be even more ingrained for repeat offenders. Nearly one-third of drivers arrested for or convicted of DUI are repeat offenders.

Unfortunately, even with the state’s new legislation, accidents involving repeat DUI offenders may still affect many people. Anyone who has been hurt in an accident that a drunk driver caused should meet with an attorney to discuss the available legal remedies.

Follow Our Firm

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow Us On LinkedIn

Primary Sidebar

HOW CAN WE HELP?

Tell Us About Your Legal Issue
  • close
    The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.
    Privacy Policy
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Secondary Sidebar

  • Personal injury
    • Personal Injury
    • Premises Liability
    • Negligent Lighting And Security
    • Elevator Injuries
    • Retail Store Accidents
    • Slip and Fall Accidents
    • Brain Injuries
    • Spinal Cord Injuries
    • Soft Tissue Injuries
    • Burn Injuries
    • Wrongful Death
    • Car Accidents
    • Fatal Auto Accidents
    • Motorcycle Accidents
    • Motorcycle Accidents: Insurance Issues and Medical Bills
    • Truck Accidents
    • Bicycle Accidents
    • Pedestrian Accidents
    • T-Bone Accidents
    • Bus Accidents
    • Rear-End Collisions
    • Head-On Collisions
    • Taxi Accidents
    • Drunk Driver Accidents
    • Distracted Driving Accidents
  • Worker’s Compensation
    • Worker’s Compensation
    • Work-Related Injuries
    • Construction Accidents
    • Ladder Accidents
    • Scaffolding Accidents
    • Farm Accidents
    • Heavy Equipment And Machinery Accidents
    • Work Vehicle Accidents
  • Business Law
    • Business Law
    • Small Business Formations And Acquisitions
    • Contract Law
  • Nonprofits And Tax-Exempt Organizations
  • Commercial and Residential Real Estate
  • Mediation
  • Estate Planning
    • Estate Planning Law
    • Becoming A Power Of Attorney For Elderly Parents
    • Estate Administration
    • Probate Litigation

Herr & Low, P.C.
234 North Duke Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
Phone: 717-397-7544
Fax: 717-397-8227
Lancaster Law Office Map

Attorneys

Richard Cordell Low
rlow@herrlow.com

Matthew A. Grosh
mgrosh@herrlow.com

Brad Zuke
brad@herrlow.com

Herr & Low Logo

We Take It Personally.

Herr & Low, P.C., represents clients throughout central Pennsylvania, including individuals, families and businesses in Lancaster, Manheim Township, Ephrata, Lititz, Elizabethtown, Gap, Millersville, Columbia, Manheim and Strasburg, as well as clients in communities in Lancaster County, York County, Chester County, Dauphin County and Lebanon County.
Copyright ©2021 Herr & Low, P.C. All Rights Reserved. Disclaimer Site Map Privacy Policy