Drunk driving is a county problem
By Tim Damos, Capital Newspapers
Sauk County Coroner Betty Hinze hates to give a family the news that someone's father, daughter, wife or brother has just died because someone decided to drive drunk.
Wisconsin has the highest drunk-driving rate in the nation, a recent federal study found. And local statistics don't paint a brighter picture.
"We sure would like to see it cut down as much as possible," Hinze said.
Still, Sauk County's tavern league is one of a minority statewide that does not sponsor a safe ride program.
"I can't get anybody even interested in the rest of the league to get it started," said Mick Quindt, past president of the Sauk County Tavern League.
Quindt is listed as Sauk County's "SafeRide Contact" on the state tavern league's Web site. But that program hasn't existed locally for more than two years.
Funds for the program dried up after local taverns had to pay a Baraboo taxi service to stay open later than usual. But paying a taxi company isn't the only option.
State grants of up to $20,000 are available to pay volunteer drivers who can help bar patrons get home safe, but local tavern leagues have to raise matching funds, said Pete Madland, executive director of the Tavern League of Wisconsin
It would cost the Sauk County Tavern League somewhere between $2,000 and $4,000 to get a volunteer driver program started, Quindt said. But organizing that effort has proved difficult, he said.
The organization collects $25 per year from its 105 members and has somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000 cash on hand, but much of that is spent on donations to local charities and sending members to state conventions, Quindt said. He said he's still hopeful the league can start a local program.
Raising matching funds for the program hasn't been an issue for other tavern leagues around the state.
The number of safe rides provided by taxis or volunteers statewide has grown from 17,000 to 45,000 over the last five years, Madland said.
The neighboring Juneau County Tavern League — which has fewer members than Sauk County — has both taxi services and volunteer drivers available for customers, said Nancy Ennis, who manages the organization's SafeRide program.
There were 27 Wisconsin counties in 2007 whose local tavern leagues did not have any safety program, according to the Tavern League of Wisconsin's Web site.
Drunken driving an issue
Wisconsin leads the nation in drunken driving, according to a national survey by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The survey found that 26 percent of Wisconsin adults admitted to driving under the influence of alcohol in the previous year. Wisconsin was followed closely by North Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska. Utah had the lowest percentage of admitted drunk drivers, with 9.5 percent.
There were 670 intoxicated driving convictions in Sauk County 2007, and almost 38 percent of those were against repeat offenders, according to a state Department of Transportation database. That's higher than the 34 percent of the 31,758 convictions statewide that involved repeat offenders.
The last year Sauk County fell below the statewide percentage was 2003.
Baraboo Police Department citations for intoxicated operating of a vehicle increased in 2007, but have been in decline so far this year, said Chief Craig Olsen.
Olsen said it's impossible to tell why there have been fewer citations so far this year, but said any program that gets intoxicated motorists off the road is a bonus.
Hinze, Sauk County Coroner, agreed.
"If it saves one life, it saves an entire family from experiencing the loss of a loved one," she said.
Hinze said five of the 9 Sauk County traffic fatalities so far this year have been alcohol related. In 2007, nine of 15 local traffic deaths involved alcohol.
Other programs needed
Safe ride programs don't actually curb behavior, they just baby sit it, one advocate says.
"There isn't any evidence that SafeRide is effective, and there is a lot of money that is being poured into that," said Kari Kinnard, executive director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Wisconsin.
She said money would be better spent on programs scientifically proven to prevent intoxicated driving, like early childhood education, therapy, ignition lock devices and sobriety check points.