Morgan Hill
– Halfway through the first year of a law designed to punish
minors who drink and drive, Morgan Hill police authorities are
reporting they have arrested 16 persons under the age of 21 for
driving under the influence with a blood alcohol concentration
level of less than .05.
Minors who drink and drive face fines of between $340 and $850 for breaking law
n By MARILYN DUBIL Staff Writer
Morgan Hill – Halfway through the first year of a law designed to punish minors who drink and drive, Morgan Hill police authorities are reporting they have arrested 16 persons under the age of 21 for driving under the influence with a blood alcohol concentration level of less than .05.
The arrests were possible due to California Assembly Bill 2752, introduced in February 2006 and passed by the Assembly in August 2006. The law went into effect in January.
Before the law, an underage person received a harsher punishment if he or she was drunk in public than if he or she were behind the wheel of a car. If a minor had a blood alcohol concentration level of .05 or above they faced no fines and were simply arrested and released to their parents. Now the message is being sent to minors loud and clear: It’s illegal to drink if you’re under 21.
According to information from the law’s author, Assemblyman Todd Spitzer, R-Orange, there were more than 13,200 underage drinkers convicted of driving under the influence in 2004. Although California had a “zero tolerance” policy for underage drinking and driving, minors with a blood alcohol concentration level of under .05 were not guaranteed a penalty before Jan. 1, when AB 2752 became law.
Now drivers under 21 with a blood alcohol concentration of .01 percent to .04 percent are subject to a fine of up to $340 for a first offense, up to $680 for a second offense and up to $850 for a third offense. Fines have also been increased for underage drivers with a blood alcohol concentration level of .05 percent or greater.
Morgan Hill resident Molly Edgar, whose son, Joey, 16, is involved in a youth advocacy group associated with the South County Collaborative, said she believes the law is an important step.
“It’s important that the message is loud and clear to the youth in the community,” she said. “It is also important that the message is consistent and consistently enforced so … when they make a choice to drink illegally, there will be serious consequences to face. That message should be made very well known … so it makes it easier, hopefully, for them to say ‘no’ when they feel peer pressure. Maybe that can be the reason they use when they refuse.”
The Morgan Hill-based South County Collaborative, a consortium of human service providers, organized the Community Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership, the group of teens Joey works with.
Dina Campeau, a spokeswoman with the South County Collaborative, said the group is behind the law, but hopes it does enough.
“We hope it makes a dent,” Campeau said. “The kids have been let off pretty easy, so there isn’t the message that this is a really serious issue … We also wanted to see adults in the community take this seriously. We think there need to be consequences that are real for the kids, for their parents. The fines were needed, sometimes that’s the only way to reach the parents. But we don’t want (the consequences) to be so punitive that they get caught up in the juvenile justice system and are more at risk.”
Morgan Hill police Cmdr. David Swing said the department also supports the law’s stiffer penalties.
“We support anything that curtails underage drinking,” he said. “More importantly, underage drinking and driving, because an impaired, inexperienced driver may cause significant unintended consequences.”
