From "The DUI App," available from iTunes
New York was the first state to adopt what has commonly become known as the "implied consent law" in 1953. This law was designed to force possible drunk drivers to submit to a blood, breath or urine test after the driver had been stopped by an officer and the officer then had a reasonable belief that the driver was impaired. The theory behind the practice of implementing implied consent laws (also known as informed consent) is that any driver who used the roads and highways implicitly consented to giving his or her permission for a breath or blood (and in some states, urine) sample that could be subsequently used as evidence at trial.
Over the years implied consent statutes have been attacked for a variety of constitutional reasons, usually unsuccessfully. This arena is ripe for litigation but courts have consistently held that the statutes do not violate a driver's Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure, or Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The statutes usually are upheld on due process grounds, although courts have found statutes that permit the revocation of a license without a hearing unreasonable and unconstitutional.
In upholding the implied consent laws courts have generally looked to one of two theories supporting their validity. The first theory is that driving on public roads and highways is a privilege, not a right. To be entitled to this privilege a driver must adhere to state laws, including laws prohibiting driving while intoxicated. The second theory is that so long as the driver is afforded due process the implied consent laws are a reasonable regulation of driving pursuant to the state's police power. In hearing arguments that assert that implied consent laws are unconstitutional or unreasonable courts have weighed the interests of society against the interests of individuals, and have ruled that driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is enough of a danger to society that a slight infringement on the liberty of individuals is justifiable.
The New York law enacted in 1953 enabled a driver to refuse testing but with the penalty of a license suspension of 12 months. Every state has followed the New York law and there is a license suspension or revocation of some length for refusing to provide a breath, blood or urine sample when lawfully requested in every jurisdiction.
Coinciding with the implementation of the New York implied consent law was the introduction of a new breath test machine. In 1954, Robert Borkenstein, a retired Captain in the Indiana State Police who had been the Director of the Police Laboratory, filed for US Patent Number 2824789, "Apparatus for analyzing a gas." He had invented the "Breathalyzer" breath testing instrument.
Coinciding with Borkenstein's invention, President Dwight D. Eisenhower successfully convinced Congress to approve the Interstate Highway System. Eisenhower was inspired by the German Autobahn when his troops occupied Germany during World War II, and more importantly, he understood the immense value to national commerce and travel such a system would create. The Interstate Highway System was authorized by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 and was popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956. This highway system created changes in mobility for Americans that was unheard prior to the Eisenhower presidency.
The 1950s also saw further studies in the relation of alcohol to road accidents. A controlled study in Toronto, Canada, compared the blood alcohol concentrations of 433 drivers involved in accidents with 2015 other drivers. According to the research the danger of accidents became significant when the blood alcohol level was greater than 0.10, and when it rose above 0.15, the hazard was approximately ten times greater than when the concentration was below 0.50. A further study in Baltimore, Maryland in 1957 examined 500 consecutive highway fatalities to drivers, passengers and pedestrians. It was determined that approximately one-third of the fatal accidents were associated with blood alcohol levels greater than .150 BAC and about half with levels greater than .50 BAC. These figures seem to compare with those reported in a similar survey completed in Perth, in 1957. Another controlled study of drinking drivers involved in accidents was done in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. The results of this study again stated that as a driver's BAC increased so did the hazard. Specifically, the study declared that the chances of being involved in a traffic accident were 124 times greater for a person with a blood alcohol level of over .150 BAC than they were for a person with only 0.030.
In 1958, the Symposium on Alcohol and Road Traffic at Indiana University declared that a BAC of 0.05 g/dL "definitely impairs the driving ability of some individuals." Further, they claimed that as the BAC increases, an escalating percentage of individuals experience impairment, until the BAC reaches 0.10 g/dL, at which point all individuals are "definitely" impaired. In 1960, the Committee on Alcohol and Drugs issued a statement recommending that DUI laws be amended to reflect a 0.10 g/dL BAC as presumptive evidence of guilt. The Uniform Vehicle Code was amended to reflect this recommendation in 1962.
Along with advances in the study of breath and the ability to capture and evaluate breath samples, further studies were conducted that concentrated on the study of driving under the influence. One of these pre-eminent studies was the "Grand Rapids Study" (Michigan) in 1964. This study examined vehicle accidents and their relation to the alcohol use. The study concluded that there was a causal relationship between vehicle accidents and higher BAC levels. Moreover, and more alarmingly, the study showed that there was a higher chance of a fatality when the driver has a higher BAC reading. This report was a precursor to states implementing a lower BAC level for drinking and driving. The first states to actually enact a lower BAC (lower than 0.15%) after the Grand Rapids Study was New York and Nebraska, which did so in 1972.
As the 1960s neared its end the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) began to take a more active role in promoting stiffer legislation for drinking and driving. Their role played on the Grand Rapids study and involved the promotion of statistics proving the connection to fatal automobile accidents and alcohol. Important to mobilizing attention and resources to this perceived problem was the Highway Safety Act of 1966 which effectively federalized this issue by establishing the National Highway Safety Bureau, the precursor of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and by authorizing the U.S. Department of Transportation's historic 1968 report Alcohol and Highway Safety. The 1968 report found that "the use of alcohol by drivers and pedestrians leads to some 25,000 deaths and a total of at least 800,000 crashes in the United States each year." The report warned that "this major source of human morbidity will continue to plague our mechanically powered society until its ramifications and many present questions have been exhaustively explored and the precise possibilities for truly effective countermeasures determined."
For information on your Washington State DUI please contact our Snohomish County DUI attorneys, Whatcom County DUI attorneys, King County DUI attorneys, Whatcom Island County DUI attorneys, Island County DUI attorneys, or Skagit County DUI attorneys at 425-493-1115 or check out our website at http://www.washdui.com
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