Lethal Loopholes

(NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Monday night at 11:00 pm, Newschannel 3 will be airing a special report, 'Lethal Loopholes,' Newschannel 3's look at what police are doing to keep drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel.

The MADD chapter in Michigan says the state has 50,000 drunk driving arrests every year. Half of those are first-time DUI's, while the other half come from repeat offenders.

In Monday's special report, Newschannel 3 rode along with law enforcement, and talked with lawyers, advocates, and victims about keeping repeat offenders off the roads.

We also spoke with a local woman who has first-hand experience, having collided head-on with a drunk driver. That accident killed her mother instantly, and she later learned that the driver responsible had no license, no insurance, and four DUI's.

“With that many offenses, I just don't understand why he wasn't more closely guarded,” said Sandy Ormanovich.

“Well, we really have a catch and release program as far as drunk drivers,” said Homer Smith, executive director of MADD – Michigan. “They get arrested that first time, they have their license suspended for a little bit of time, pay some fines and then they go out and they're likely to repeat their offense.”

Smith believes MADD has an immediate solution to decrease the number of repeat offenders, a technology that's been used with success in several other states.

Tune in to Newschannel 3 at 11:00 pm for the full report.