Drunk driving has long been a problem in our society- taking the lives of thousands of people every year and sending hundreds of thousands to the hospital with serious injuries. As a Seattle injury lawyer and Washington wrongful death attorney I see the disastrous consequences of drunk driving constantly and am always shocked at how big of a failure our current system is at deterring these unsafe driving habits. A recent drunk driving arrest shows just how ineffective our system is.

After Dwight David Benson was convicted of his 12th drinking and driving offense last year he promised the court he would never drink and drive again, but on Saturday the infamous DUI convict was arrested again after instigating a drunk driving accident. Benson’s long criminal record goes back to 1984 and includes an assortment of convictions for Drunk Driving, driving on a suspended license, hit and run and not having a valid operator’s license. Below is a list of Benson’s criminal record.

After reviewing the record, there is one thing that pops out besides the massive number of repeat offenses—5 of 16 drunk driving charges were downgraded to a reckless driving charge, in spite of Benson’s history. The last drunk driver charge Benson was convicted of in February of 2010 which also involved a hit and run and driving with a suspended license only gave him three years in prison—of which he paid the bond only to go out and get in a drunk driving accident less than a year later.

The sad part is 2/3rd’s of all Drunk Driving arrests are of repeat offenders – so 66 of every 100 Drunk Driving arrests are drivers that have already had at least one drunk driving conviction. With these numbers it is obvious our current Washington State drunk driving laws are not working. Luckily it appears a new bill will be made into law increasing the use of ignition interlock devices in the cars of drunk drivers. For more information on the new laws click on the link above.

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