Dear Co-Chair Miller and Co-Chair Pocan,

Thank you for supporling drunk driving reform legislation SB 66 in 2009. The measure represents unheralded progress in Wisconsin. However, more action is needed and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) urges your consideration of holding a public hearing on Assembly Blll547 in the Joint Comniittee on Finance. AB 547 will help prevent drunk driving by legalizing the option of sobriety checkpoints and making a first OWI offense a misdemearlor.

Drunk driving is a taxpayer subsidized violent crime. Between 1998 to 2008 in Wisconsin, 3,796 people died in drunk dnving crashes. In that same time period, 67,588 people were injured in alcohol related crashes. For these 100 percent preventable deaths and injuries, the state and taxpayers have paid at least $6.7 billion. AB 547 is necessary as it airns to prevent dmnk driving from occurring and lifting the taxpayer subsidy of drunk driving.

Giving the option for law enforcement to perform sobriety checkpoints, which are funded by federal grants in other states, can help find and charge those endangering public safety. As a result, people who dlink are detered to drive because enhanced enforcement increases one's fear of being anested. The Centers for Disease Control found that when well-publicized sobriety checkpoints were run, alcohol-related crashes and fatalities decreased by more than 20 percent.

AB 547 makes a first offense a misdemeanor and serves as a deterrent to drunk driving occuring in the first place. Studies show that a first time convicted OWI offender has driven drunk an average of 87 times before they are car"rght. According to Wisconsin DOT, most drunk driving deaths and injuries are caused by drunk drivers with no prior convictions. Clearly, a stronger detenent is needed to stop dmnk driving from occurring in the first place.

Please let the sunshine of open govemment to shine in and allow for AB 547 to receive a public hearing and an up or down vote in Committee. MADD believes AB 547 is critical to helping prevent drunk driving by allowing law enforcement the option to perform sobriety checkpoints and makes the pLrnishment fit the crime by making a first OWI offense a misdemeanor.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of this legislation to receive a hearing in the Joint Comrnittee on Finance.

Sincerelv.
Laura Dean-Mooney
National President
Mothers Against Drunk Driving