Community-Coalition On Drug Awareness
Educating Communities Through
Awareness-Acknowledgement-Action
Preventing Impaired Driving & Crashes
Montana DUI Task Forces and Judges DUI Survey Analysis
& Recommendations
In January 2018, 147 members of 15 Montana county DUI Task Forces and 46 lower court judges were surveyed to learn their concerns about the state’s DUI problem, and what could be done about it.
Findings of that survey were analyzed and recommendations developed based upon those findings and the recommendations of various federal agencies and national groups combating the DUI problem.
This analysis developed five primary recommendations from these survey findings, as well as 34 other recommendations.
Many are also supported in Countermeasures That Work, 2015, National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.
- Make a third DUI offense a felony.This will result in both stiffer penalties and the opportunity for offenders to take earlier the highly effective residential addiction treatment WATCH program offered by Department of Corrections.
- Require either close monitoring or ignition interlocks for first-time DUI offenders,giving judges the discretion of which to require based on availability, costs, and needs of the offender and society. Costs shall be paid for by the offender, except where the indigent may need local or state government assistance to accomplish the required monitoring or use of interlock devices.
- Require the use of well-publicized Sobriety Checkpoints by law enforcement and provide additional funding to encourage their regular use for maximum effectiveness.
- Require the state to electronically collect annual DUI case statistics by court and judge, including the number of DUI cases heard, the number of DUI cases dismissed, MT DUI Task Forces and Judges DUI Survey Analysis and Recommendations June 2018 4 the number of DUI cases pled to lesser offenses, the number of DUI cases resulting in DUI convictions, and any other statistics that help the state assess the effectiveness of these courts in dealing with DUI cases.
- Allow law enforcement to request an electronic warrant to determine the breath alcohol content of a first-time DUI suspect refusing to take the breathalyzer test.