Are Harsher DUI Penalties Coming to Nevada?
As previously written about on this site, the statistics for DUI or DWI related deaths on the Nevada roads are staggering. Our state finds itself near the top of the rankings for drunk driving accidents and deaths, a position no state wants to be in. It can be easy to ignore this problem, but Nevada rates 7th in the United States for most drunk driving deaths, a figure that cannot be avoided. So the question remains: is new legislation in progress to attempt to curb this delinquency? Our Lewisville TX attorneys are here to keep you in the know.
With 1,235 drunk driving fatalities in Nevada annually (according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving), it is clear our state has a long way to go to lower this devastating number. Yet many of the bills recently proposed fizzled out shortly after their launch. Some of the proposed bills included the installation of interlock ignition devices on the vehicles of first-time vehicle offenders, making it impossible to start the car if the driver failed a breathalyzer. Other proposed pieces of legislation that didn’t go far were bills to set up sobriety checkpoints, allowing authority to attempt to cut down on drunk drivers, and an automatic license revocation after a second DWI offense.
One bill that did pass was the Abdallah Khader Act, named after a 2 year-old Fort Worth boy struck by a repeat drunk driver. Governor Perry recently signed the bill into law, making intoxication assault a second-degree felony when the victim is left in a vegetative state. The sentence is increased to two to 20 years. The act also makes driving with an alcohol content of 0.15 a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in prison.
With the recent reports of drunk driving statistics in Nevada, it is clear our state has a long way to go. Yet, our Las Vegas bail bond attorneys know mistakes do happen. Should you find yourself on the wrong side of the law, let our experienced defense lawyers handle your case. Give us a call or contact us online today.
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