Illinois proposal would tag the cars of drunk drivers
CHICAGO -- A proposal that appears to be gathering support in the Illinois Legislature would require repeat drunk drivers to affix special license plates to their car, a sort of scarlet letter alerting other motorists about their driving record.
"This little bill has caught so much attention," said Representative Susana Mendoza, a Democrat.
Newspapers, television stations, and radio talk shows have been calling her, and she is receiving considerable support from her colleagues in the General Assembly.
"It's really created a huge buzz," she said.
Under the bill Mendoza introduced earlier this month, people convicted three or more times for driving under the influence would be required to use license plates with the words "repeat DUI offender" written across the plate. The plates would be orange or trimmed in orange reflective tape.
Mendoza is hoping the bill will prove enough of a success that her colleagues would support requiring the plates for people convicted on their second offense.
"I think it would make drivers more alert and cautious," she said. "People would be able to see the potential for an accident before an accident attacks them by surprise."
In 2002, there were 463 alcohol-related automobile crashes in Illinois, claiming the lives of 533 people, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
It is unclear exactly how many people would qualify for the plates under Mendoza's bill. About 50,000 citations are issued for DUI every year in Illinois, and state officials estimate that about 33 percent of the drivers arrested are repeat offenders.
The bill would put Illinois on a very short list of states that attach such a scarlet letter to drunk drivers.
Washington and Oregon experimented with special stickers affixed to license plates of some offenders. And while a 1994 study published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration suggested these laws could be effective in cutting down on repeat DUI and other offenses, the study found little support in either state and the laws were allowed to expire.
In Ohio, a new law took effect in January that calls for first-time DUI offenders to have yellow license plates with red lettering. An amendment is pending before the state Legislature to change it to second-time offenders, but more than 900 Ohio drivers have had to attach the special plates to their cars, according to the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
A scarlet letter law was introduced in the Massachusetts Legislature last session but quickly died, according to Barbara Barrington, executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Similar bills also have been introduced in Illinois before, but never made it far in the General Assembly, said David Druker, spokesman for the Illinois Secretary of State's Office.
Mendoza said fellow legislators have been supportive: "I feel very confident. I don't know why it wouldn't move forward."
Some are taking a wait-and-see stance. The secretary of state's office, for example, is concerned the license plates would be attached to cars that are shared by the spouse or children of the repeat offender, unfairly stigmatizing them for the sins of the offender.
MADD would seem to be a natural ally, but the head of the Illinois chapter said the group has reservations. If the law is designed solely to alert police and other drivers to a potential danger, that is fine, executive director Susan McKinney said. "If it's meant to shame the person," she said, "I would not support that."
Mendoza said: "My motivation behind the bill isn't to humiliate the driver, but to protect the other drivers."
Just the same, she added, "as an indirect result of that, I'm sure people aren't going to be proud of driving around with that license plate."
In Illinois, first-time offenders generally lose their license for a year upon conviction. On the second offense, the license can be revoked for five years; on the third offense, the driver faces revocation for 10 years.
