Proposed New Jersey DWI
Legislation
PROPOSED NJ DWI LEGISLATION
Recently, there has been a great deal of activity with regard to new legislation in New Jersey involving DWI issues.
Unfortunately, many of the proposed bills continue New Jersey law in the direction it has gone over the
past fifteen years, toward harsher penalties for New Jersey drivers.
These proposed enactments are based upon the assumption that DWI related accidents
can be reduced if
only the statutory requirements and penalties were made more severe. At the
present time, New Jersey has some of the most severe laws in the country.
While increasing sanctions may be " popular " with legislators and their
constituents, the question has to be asked whether vehicular accidents and
fatalities are reduced in direct relation to increasingly harsher laws that
are adopted. Most people in the DWI field, furthermore, agree that most
accidents do not result from alcohol consumption until the Blood Alcohol
Content ( BAC ) reaches and exceeds the .15 BAC level. New Jersey law,
however, provides for the same punishment for drivers found with lower levels
of impairment, provided the BAC is .10 or higher.
With this background in mind, the New Jersey Senate Committee on Law and Public Safety recently reviewed and recommended for full Senate
consideration, various bills which would increase penalties and create new dwi
offenses. It is interesting to note that these bills supposedly arose out of
the Report of the Senate Task Force on Alcohol Related Motor Vehicle Accidents and Fatalities which is dated December 11, 1998. This report,
from a committee created by the Senate, actually made many recommendations
which would reform some present DWI practices. Very few of these
recommendations however, found their way into the bills which were considered by the Committee at their October 18, 2000 meeting.
Two bills considered by the Committee, would hopefully improve the condition of DWI law. Firstly, the Committee considered a bill which would
require clarification of the statement which must be read to defendants
before they are asked to submit to the breath test. This statement, commonly
referred to as Paragraph 36, tells the suspect that for purposes of the
breath test, he has no right to have an attorney present, nor to refrain from
taking the test as the result of his right to remain silent. The
problem arises as a result of confusion which can arise because of the
Miranda rights which are stated to the suspect at the same time. It is in the
course of reading the Miranda rights that the defendant is told that he has a
right to remain silent and to have an attorney present. Failure to take the
test can result in a violation of law which carries penalties similar to
those which would arise as a result of a DWI conviction. Hopefully, this
proposed legislation will help to clarify the confusion which can arise in
this situation.
The second bill would require that a portion of the $3000 insurance surcharge imposed as a result of a DWI conviction, be actually used to help
people with alcohol related problems. At the pesent time, these surcharge
funds go to fund motor vehicle insurance programs presently in place.
New
Jersey DWI Defense Center
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