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Recent testimony in the Ohio House of Representatives on a bill to get tough on impaired drivers revealed this sobering claim to shame for Ohio: The Buckeye State ranks 49th of 50 states in addressing and preventing drunken driving.
That legislation, House Bill 37, received a lengthy airing since being introduced in February 2023. After numerous hearings on its potential life-saving benefits, House members of all political stripes passed it unanimously late last month.
Now it's imperative for the state Senate to act with all due speed to approve it and send to the governor for enactment. The sooner it's in force, the sooner Ohio can stand a fighting chance of ridding itself of its dubious distinction as a relatively safe haven for drunken drivers, particularly those who recklessly crush the life out of others.
HB 37 is nicknamed "Liv's Law," after Olivia Wright who was killed by a man who in a drunken, blacked-out stupor, veered left of center on Highway 104 near Ashville and killed the 22-year-old in September 2020. The driver, Benjamin Shuler, received a paltry five-year prison sentence and went on to face charges for violence during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
In the Mahoning Valley, the leniency of Ohio's drunken driving laws has been demonstrated time and time again. Just earlier this year, a woman originally charged with aggravated vehicular homicide and OVI and accused of crashing into a South Side Youngstown porch and killing a man in 2020 was sentenced to mere probation after pleading guilty to lesser charges in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
As for the ongoing campaign to achieve justice for Liv, Bryan and Teresa Wright, Liv's parents, have been passionately fighting to put teeth in this state's drunken driving statutes so that other parents will not have to face the same trauma and anguish that continue to haunt them daily.
"Having lost Olivia to a drunk driver has completely destroyed our family to its core, and it is a scene that plays out across the state of Ohio far too often," Bryan Wright testified to the House committee that reviewed the bill.
Wright added that tougher laws have worked in other states, and House Bill 37 will make a difference in the fight against this 100% preventable crime by giving victims and victim survivors the justice they deserve. Most importantly, and it will save lives.
Among the key provisions, HB 37 sponsored by State Reps. Mark Johnson (R-Chillicothe) and Kevin Miller (R-Newark) would:
● Trigger increased minimum mandatory prison terms for aggravated vehicular homicide that is the result of an OVI offense to up to 20 years.
● Implement a one-strike (rather than three-strike) policy meaning that if defendants have pleaded guilty to one OVI in the past 20 years, they are subject to the harshest penalties.
● Increase the maximum fines for aggravated vehicular homicide committed as the result of an OVI to $25,000.
Clearly, these harsher penalties and punishments would serve as stronger deterrents. According to Doug Scoles, state executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, drunken driving crimes increased 23% in Ohio from 2019 to 2020, and the trend has not decreased or improved since then.
Repeat OVI offenses in Ohio also are off the charts. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol Statistical Analysis Unit, on average 40% of all OVI offenders which is an average of 14,847 offenders a year, are repeat offenders. That is 10.5 percentage points higher than a 22 state average of 29.5% reported by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Greater mandatory use of ignition interlocks also called for in Liv's Law bode well for keeping more impaired drivers off our roads. According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol OVI Dashboard, from 2006 to 2020 in Ohio, interlocks stopped 34,927 attempts to drive drunk with a BAC over .08.
With so much going for it, there's no time to waste to enact these needed upgrades in Ohio's OVI statutes. Ohio senators must not let Liv's Law stall out.
Swift enactment of Liv's Law will help reduce drunken-driving carnage in Ohio and serve as a fitting legacy to Olivia Wright who made helping others less fortunate than herself a priority all her life.
editorial@tribtoday.com