2 ways to make Houston’s roads safer
When it comes to impaired driving, Houston truly is the city with No Limits.
The city’s nine-county region is the single most dangerous place for drivers, passengers and pedestrians in the United States.
This month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration released a report finding more people have been killed in Texas by an impaired driving crash than in any other state every year for the last six years in a row. Texas and specifically Houston are receiving special focus in the national Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility’s efforts to reduce impaired driving.
A recent Houston Chronicle analysis called Houston “ground zero for drunken and drugged driving.”
December is National Impaired Driving Prevention Month, and New Year’s Eve is notorious for drunk driving, so there’s no better time to ask what can be done to end this devastating loss of life.
The majority of fatal crashes are caused by a very specific group of people: those who repeatedly drive impaired and with a blood alcohol content at or above .15 — nearly twice the legal limit of .08. Luckily, we have an effective program for stopping their dangerous behavior: DWI court.
These specialty courts recognize that impaired driving is a symptom of a bigger, underlying problem: addiction. They hold repeat DWI offenders accountable, supervise them closely and connect them with evidence-based treatment. Studies show that participants in DWI courts are up to 60 percent less likely to reoffend than those sentenced to jail or standard probation. DWI courts also cost far less than jail or prison.
The Houston region has made progress implementing DWI courts, but access remains uneven. Some counties have no specialty court programs at all; some have drug courts that will accept DWI offenses; some have DWI court programs that accept only misdemeanors (one or two DWI convictions), while others accept only felonies (three or more). Just one county, Brazoria, accepts both misdemeanors and felonies.
Making Houston a safer place for everyone will require a focus on both public safety and public health. The National Center for DWI Courts recommends two strategies to accomplish this: Expand DWI courts to all nine counties. A line on a map shouldn’t determine who receives accountability and treatment and who doesn’t. Not only is this unequal justice, but it’s a disservice to the public, whose lives are once again in danger as soon as repeat impaired drivers are released from jail or prison without treatment. By ensuring access to a DWI court for all Houstonians, the justice system will be far more fair, effective and efficient.
Enhance existing DWI courts to accept all eligible repeat DWI offenses, whether misdemeanor or felony. Most drivers who get their first DWI will never get another; it scares them straight. But those who repeatedly drive impaired are the most serious threats to public safety on our roads, and DWI courts can break the cycle before someone gets injured or killed.
Take Blaine Boudreaux. He had a history of at least three prior drunk-driving arrests when, in April 2015, he drove impaired yet again, with tragic consequences. In October, he was sentenced to 80 years in prison for killing Leonard Batiste, a 61-year-old veteran, and six-year-old Joshua Medrano.
After his arrest, Boudreaux tested positive for prescription drugs. While most Americans do not misuse prescriptions, in the 15 months leading up to the crashes, police said that Boudreaux had obtained more than 64 prescriptions for painkillers and other drugs through 17 different pharmacies across Houston and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Clearly, Boudreaux’s actions were not just poor decision-making; they were driven by addiction.
Had Boudreaux’s history of destructive behavior been recognized for what it was—substance use disorder—a DWI court could have intervened earlier and provided treatment. It might have prevented the senseless deaths of Batiste and Medrano. And like the 700-plus DWI courts across the country do every day, it might have returned Boudreaux to life as a responsible citizen, husband and father rather than spending the rest of his life behind bars at great expense to taxpaying Texans.
Houston has a lot to offer but leading the nation in fatal crashes is one top honor that it urgently needs to relinquish. Expanding and enhancing DWI courts will help.