Missoula News

Drunken Driving Commentary

Montana DUI Tragedies: How Weak Laws Are Killers

By Amy Linn, 12-28-09

The car driven by Montana Highway Patrol Trooper Mike Haynes, who was killed by a drunken driver. Photo courtesy of Montana Department of Justice.

Turah resident David James DelSignore, 29, was charged this afternoon with two counts of vehicular homicide for allegedly striking and killing two teenage girls with his pickup truck along Highway 200 in Missoula late Saturday night, an incident that left two additional teens injured.

Wearing an orange jumpsuit, looking pale and shaken, DelSignore made his appearance in Missoula County Justice Court via a video feed from the county jail. Speaking on DelSignore’s behalf, attorney Christopher Daly asked Justice of the Peace Karen Orzech for DelSignore to be released from jail on his own recognizance and wear a SCRAM (secure continuous remote alcohol monitor) ankle bracelet, a device that senses if alcohol is in the sweat and electronically alerts authorities.

Orzech denied that bid and, in agreement with Chief Deputy County Attorney Kirsten Pabst LaCroix, set bail at $120,000. DelSignore, a Costco employee, faces additional charges of two counts of negligent vehicular assault for injuring the two surviving victims.

Ashley Patenaude, 14, and Taylor Cearley, 15, were hit and killed as they walked eastward off the side of the road near the Cobblestone apartments, where they were apparently waiting with their friends “for a ride to a gathering,” according to a detailed story by Missoulian reporter Michael Moore.

Moore reports that DelSignore told law enforcement officials “he had been drinking wine in Missoula.” He allegedly let his 1999 Chevy Silverado drift several feet off the road. Court records state that he “had been driving and talking on his cell phone” and then heard screaming. Three hours after the crash, DelSignore’s blood alcohol level was .147, nearly twice the legal limit of .08, Moore writes.

Patenaude and Cearley died instantly. Teal Packard, 14, remains hospitalized; the fourth victim’s name was not immediately released, the Missoulian reports. All four girls were members of the Hellgate High School freshman basketball team.

This kind of tragedy, of course, is almost beyond description. It’s heartbreaking and life-shattering. It should also be highly unusual. But in Montana, it’s far from it.

As noted just three weeks ago, the state has been a DUI death zone for years. Montana typically rates among the worst in the nation for its DUI death rate; it’s a place where driving under the influence is an acknowledged part of the culture.

So what’s the solution? New laws—much as we don’t like them. Everywhere around the nation, states are embracing tougher DUI measures that don’t merely punish offenders but also keep them from turning that key in the ignition. If offenders persist, jailers get to turn the key.

New York last month enacted Leandra’s Law, which makes it a felony if someone driving while intoxicated has a passenger in the vehicle who’s under the age of 16. If a drunken driver causes the death of someone under age 16—like the two teens killed in Missoula—the crime becomes aggravated vehicular homicide, punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

Perhaps even more importantly, first-time DUI offenders in New York must install ignition interlock devices in their vehicles. The interlocks—devices that are estimated to save 8,000 to 9,000 lives a year—won’t let a vehicle start if the driver (who must blow into them) is intoxicated.

For additional deterrence value, a second conviction for drunken driving in New York is a felony, punishable by up to 7 years in jail. In Montana, by comparison, it’s not a felony until the fourth DUI offense, giving drunken drivers far too many chances to get wasted and waste lives.

It’s sometimes argued that laws won’t change things—that the DUI tradition in Montana is too ingrained. But laws do transform cultures: thus, the sea change and thousands of saved lives brought about by seat belt mandates nationwide.

DUI laws save lives, too. And there are crackdowns across the nation as a result. For example:

-- New Mexico in 2005 became the first state to mandate ignition interlock devices for people convicted of their first DUI offense. Since then, DUI-related fatalities in the state have dropped 35 percent.

-- Following New Mexico’s lead, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Washington, Nebraska, Illinois, Louisiana and New York mandated the use of ignition interlock devices for a first DUI conviction.

And in Montana? After a second DUI conviction, judges are supposed to seize vehicles or require that they be fitted with interlocks. But follow-up seems nearly nonexistent. According to the state Department of Justice, for example, “800 to 900 drivers statewide should be restricted with an ignition interlock at any given time.” Only about 165 devices are actually in use.

In the meantime, Montana’s fourth-time DUI felony law looks more and more obsolete. At least eight states have made second-time DUI convictions a felony, while most others make the third-time a felony. It seems reasonable to demand these serious consequences for people who’ve been arrested and convicted two or three times for driving drunk—which indicates that they’ve actually driven hundreds of times while loaded, but just haven’t been caught. Studies show that, before their first arrest, most people have driven while drunk more than 80 times.

Granted, alcoholism can’t be erased by legislation. Even catching offenders is impossible to do in any comprehensive way. In 2008, 159 million adults reported that they’d driven while alcohol-impaired, and only 1.4 million of them—less than one percent—were arrested for it, according to a CDC study.

The only way to tackle this massive problem is to act as if our lives depended on it. The solution is to toss out the old, preposterous insistence that “freedom” from the government, or freedom from laws (read: the freedom to drink and kill) is our first priority. At the very least, Montana needs to require ignition interlock devices for first-time offenders, toughen felony DUI statutes, and make sure the laws stick. Beyond that, we need more rehab, and early interventions of all kinds. If we can’t take measures now, after so much grief, then we are beyond help. And that’s not a state worth living in.

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.