State Six

Drunken drivers . . . are typically young

Illinois drivers under age 21 represent 9 percent of licensed drivers but are involved in 17 percent of alcohol-related fatal crashes.

Source: DUI Fact Book, Secretary of State George H. Ryan.

. . . are typically male

In 1990, males age 21 to 24 had the highest arrest rate for driving under the influence (DUI) in Illinois (21.2 per 1,000 licensed drivers).

Source: DUI Fact Book.

. . . but increasingly female

In 1990, the number of women arrested in Illinois for DUI had increased 48 percent since 1986. Women comprised 20 percent of DUI arrests, up from 12 percent in 1986.

Source: DUI Fact Book.

One injury per minute

Nationwide, at least 22,000 people are killed and nearly 500,000 are injured in alcohol-related crashes each year, which means someone is killed every 23 minutes, and someone is injured every minute. In 1990, an estimated 725 persons were killed in alcohol-related crashes in Illinois.

Source: DUI Fact Book.

Booming MADD membership

In 1980, when Candy Lightener's teenage daughter was killed by a motorist with a long record of driving under the influence, the California woman started the national organization "Mothers Against Drunk Driving" (MADD). Ten years later, MADD has grown to more than 400 local chapters with 2.9 million members and supporters in the U.S., Canada, England and Australia. The Illinois office opened in 1987; today there are 31 local chapters in Illinois.

Source: Mothers Against Drunken Driving (MADD), Chicago.

Tougher standards fail

In the Illinois General Assembly, legislation supported by Secretary of State George H. Ryan to lower the blood alcohol content from .10 to .08 failed by one vote to get out of the Judiciary II Committee last month.

Source: Legislative Synopsis and Digest No. 7.

Morgue visits

How about a visit to see someone who died as a result of an auto accident? This could be your fate if you are under 21 and are arrested for DUI. The new Illinois law, effective January 1, 1991, allows a judge to order anyone under 21 convicted of DUI to participate in the Youthful Intoxicated Drivers' Visitation Program. The program consists of a supervised visitation to the morgue.

Source: Legislative Reference Bureau.

New penalties

Another new Illinois law that took effect in January mandates alcohol and drug testing for drivers involved in accidents in which probable cause exists to believe that the driver is at least partially at fault for an injury or death.

Source: Legislative Reference Bureau.

A fitting memorial

Cheryl Beard, a Springfield woman, donated 15 cameras to local law enforcement agencies for recording conditions of drunken drivers. Beard's 17-year-old-son and only child, Jeff Bosie, was killed in March by a drunken driver who ran a stop sign and smashed into the driver's door. Beard used the $15,000 uninsured motorist's settlement to buy the cameras as a memorial to her son.

Source: Alton Telegraph, January 2, 1991.

49,405 DUI arrests in 1990

In 1990 the Secretary of State's Office recorded 49,405 DUI arrests in Illinois. Approximately 90 percent of the drivers arrested lost their driving privileges (89 percent of first offenders and 93 percent of multiple offenders).

Source: DUI Fact Book.

Budget cuts

After years of crusading against drunken driving as secretary of state, Gov. Jim Edgar was forced to cut two new Breathalyzers from the fiscal year 1991 state budget, another symbol of Illinois' deep fiscal crisis.

Source: Chicago Tribune, January, 21, 1991.

Red ribbon warnings

During the 1990 Christmas season, the Tri-County chapter of MADD initiated "Drunk and Drugged Driving Awareness Week" by distributing 100,000 red ribbons in the Peoria area. The ribbons were tied onto the left door handle of vehicles as a reminder to drive safely. MADD gave away more than one million ribbons statewide during the 1989-1990 campaign.

Source: Peoria Journal Star, December 9, 1990. I

DUI fatalities drop

DUl-related traffic fatalities have dropped from around 1,850 in 1981 to 850 in 1989.

Source: DUI Fact Book.

Tougher laws save lives

More than 1,250 stronger DUI laws were passed across the country between 1980-1990, and drunken driving deaths have dropped 20 percent, resulting in an estimated 39,000 lives saved.

Source: MADD, Washington, D.C.

General funds: lots of bills

The general funds end-of-month balance in April was $50.3 million, $225 million lower than the balance in April 1990. (In the General Revenue Fund, the nonschool portion of the general funds, the balance was $5.1 million, the second lowest month-end balance in history.) The general funds balance was illusory because the comptroller was holding $263 million in bills which the state lacked the cash to pay.

Source: Office of the Comptroller.

Unemployment: up from 1990

In April the nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.6 percent, down from 6.8 percent in March. In Illinois the April rate was 6.4 percent, down from 6.8 percent in March.

In April the state's civilian work force consisted of 6.045 million persons; 5.657 million had jobs, a decrease of 19,000 from March;

388,000 were unemployed, a decrease of 29,000 from March. In April of 1989 the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent. In April of 1990 the rate was 6.1 percent.

Final unemployment rates in February for the state's metropolitan areas were:

Aurora-Elgin, 7.0 percent. Bloomington-Normal, 4.2 percent. Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul, 4.1 percent. Chicago, 5.8 percent. Davenport-Rock Island-Moline (Illinois sector), 6.8 percent. Decatur, 7.3 percent. Joliet, 7.3 percent. Kankakee, 7.7 percent. Lake County, 4.6 percent. Peoria, 5.9 percent. Rockford, 8.3 percent. Springfield, 4.5 percent. St. Louis (Illinois sector), 7.2 percent.

Source: Department of Employment Security.

Wen Huang

4/June 1991/Illinois Issues