12 May 2009
Hit-and-run laws encourage DUI drivers to flee.
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Just over a week ago a young girl, Alyssa Mills, was hit by a drunk driver while walking home along a dark stretch of road in Tooele. The (alleged) driver, Rene Lopez, fled the scene of the accident, but was apprehended shortly thereafter with the help of a concerned citizen that followed him and kept police apprised of his location.
In this particular case, it seems that things are going to work out as they should, Ms. Mills is on the road to recovery, miraculously without permanent injury, and the alleged perpetrator is in jail. However, this case points to one serious flaw in Utah’s driving laws. In the State of Utah leaving the scene of an accident is not a felony offense, causing an accident while intoxicated is.
The way the law is written, it actually benefits a drunk driver to flee the scene of an accident and hope that they can elude the police until such a time as the alcohol is out of their system. Yes, when they are eventually caught, they will face a misdemeanor charge of fleeing the scene on top of whatever they face from the accident itself, but what they won’t face is a DUI charge. This is a law that needs to be addressed by the Utah State Legislature, and addressed immediately.
The State Legislature needs to amend the law regarding leaving the scene of an accident to reflect the actual severity of the real problem – fleeing the scene of an accident should not be a loophole that allows intoxicated drivers a chance to sober up before facing the music for their crimes. The penalty for leaving the scene of an accident should be made to be at least as severe as that for causing a DUI-related accident.
Under no circumstances should anyone leave the scene of an accident – especially in a case where someone is injured. However, as the penalty for doing so is substantially less than it would be to stay and face a DUI-related accident charge, people run. That flight, especially when dealing with an intoxicated driver, poses an even larger risk to society.
Tooele Police Lt. Paul Wimmer was quoted as saying that it is very difficult for the police to track down vehicles involved in hit and run accidents, unless someone manages to keep police informed, as happened in this case. Imagine the difficulty in tracking down that vehicle and the driver in time to effectively test for intoxication.
The argument has been made before that by increasing the penalty for leaving the scene of the crime to the levels of DUI-related offenses, the system unfairly punishes sober drivers for fleeing the scene. My response to this is very simple: don’t flee the scene of an accident. If you are involved in an accident, whether or not you are at fault, you should stay there until the proper authorities have investigated the situation. Sober or drunk, there is no legitimate reason to leave the scene of an accident. The laws need to be rewritten to reflect the actual severity of leaving the scene of a crime and address the loophole that currently allows drunken drivers a chance to evade the consequences of their poor choices.