Maryland Among Most Lenient States Regarding Drunk Driving

By ETHAN LEVINE (Patch Staff)

A recent review of DUI laws by an online publication ranks Maryland as the fifth-most lenient state in the nation in terms of DUI enforcement and prevention.

The study in question, conducted by WalletHub.com, investigated DUI penalties by state in an effort to determine which states are the strictest — and conversely the most lenient — when it comes to DUI enforcement.

And if the study proved anything to residents in this area, it’s this: A short distance can make a tremendous impact when it comes to penalizing alcohol-impaired drivers.

On WalletHub’s final list, which ranks all 50 states and the District of Columbia from 1-51, the state of Maryland ranked No. 47 in the country. D.C. was found to be even more lenient, ranking 50th on the list with more leniency than every state except South Dakota.

Virginia, meanwhile, ranked No. 8, meaning it is actually the eighth-strictest state in the nation.

WalletHub found Maryland to have the second-weakest penalties in the country and only the 32nd best DUI prevention rate. D.C. wasn’t much better, ranking 31st in harshest penalties and 50th in prevention. To contrast, Virginia boasted the ninth-harshest DUI penalties and the 13th best DUI prevention rate in the country.

But those are just numbers. What truly matters is how those numbers were derived.

WalletHub analyzed a number of variables — including minimum jail time for first and/or second offenses, the point at which a DUI becomes an automatic felony, how long a license can be suspended following a DUI, if and when an ignition interlock becomes mandatory, how much states will charge in fines and whether or not a state uses sobriety checkpoints — to help determine the strictness or leniency of a given state.

The data gathered through those variables was then used to calculate a score, with the highest score (Arizona — 43.75) designating the strictest state in the country. Virginia, Maryland and the District scored the following:

• Virginia — 29.75
• Maryland — 15.5
• D.C. — 12.25

As you can imagine, there are a few differences between Virginia’s enforcement policies and those of Maryland and Washington, D.C., that lead to the disparity in their scores.

For example, a DUI in Virginia — no matter the driver’s BAC (blood alcohol content) once it’s beyond .08 — is immediately regarded as a felony on the driver’s third offense. In Maryland and the District, there is no point in which a DUI can become an automatic felony, which does less to limit the number of repeat offenders.

In Virginia, an ignition interlocking system is required after a first offense. The same can be said in Maryland, but only if the driver had a BAC of at least 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit. In D.C., there is no mandated ignition interlocking system used in DUI enforcement.

There are financial differences, too: In Maryland and D.C., there are no fines for first offenses, while in Virginia the fine for a first offender is $250.

Alcohol-impaired drivers were involved in 31 percent of motor vehicle fatalities in 2012, and drunk driving costs Americans an average of close to $60 billion annually, according to WalletHub’s study,

Still, not states treat the crime the same.