(Columbus, OH) Nearly 1,800 Ohioans have been arrested 10 or more times for drunk driving.
A newspaper analysis of state arrest data found there are two people in the Buckeye state with 20 DUI arrests on their rap sheets, more than 20 with at least 17 traffic stops for drunk driving.
Two-thirds of Ohioans arrested for drunk driving only have one charge, but a first-time conviction either requires a mandatory three-day jail sentence or the same amount of time in a driver intervention program. But the chronic drunk drivers usually avoid jail time for their early offenses, because judges reserve stuff punishments for violent offenders.
Lifetime licenses suspensions are rare for repeat offenders. But a recent state law does give judges a right to require chronic DUI offenders to install a decide in their car that measures blood-alcohol content before they can turn the ignition key.