Why is Maryland soft on drunk driving killers?

(Posted November 30, 2005)

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"Danger on state roads; Maryland ranks among worst in alcohol-related traffic fatalities"
Sun, November 29, 2005 (by Greg Barrett, Sun Reporter)

[. . .]
Yesterday's so-called "Fatal Fifteen" report, compiled by a nonprofit traffic safety advocacy group and the National Safety Council, listed Maryland as ninth among 15 states or territories where 42 percent or more of traffic fatalities last year were alcohol-related. Nearly 45 percent of Maryland's fatalities involved alcohol consumption. Nationally, the percentage was 39.
[. . .]
"This signifies to me that the state is failing to do all it needs to in order to wage a war on drunk driving," said Del. William A. Bronrott, a Montgomery County Democrat who chaired the county's 2000 Blue Ribbon Panel on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety. "It lends further credence to the call for more action legislatively as well as the need to give police ... more resources to do the job."
[. . .]
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. plans to reintroduce legislation next year that would automatically suspend the licenses of motorists under age 21 who drink and drive, said Ehrlich spokesman Henry Fawell. "The governor ... is absolutely dedicated to getting drunk drivers of the road," Fawell said.

State Sen. John A. Giannetti Jr., a Prince George's County Democrat, said yesterday that he would introduce legislation that would give drunken-driver probation officers more authority. He would make it easier for them to order ignition interlocks, allowing the devices to be placed on vehicles of drivers convicted of drunken driving.
[More]

Questions:

• Why would Gov. Ehrlich want to limit license suspensions to drivers under 21? Does he think that the people killed by adult drunks are somehow less dead than the ones killed by younger drivers?
  
  
• Isn't Sen. Giannetti the one who advised his wife not to take a breathalyzer test when she was stopped for drunken driving? Do as I say not as I do?
  
  
• Maryland seems to be relatively soft on drunk drivers. Senate President Mike Miller advertises in the yellow pages that he specializes in defending drunk drivers. Could there be a connection? He obviously is more concerned with protecting drunks than with protecting victims and the rest of the public.

"Md. Ranks 9th When It Comes to Drunken Driving Deaths"
wtopnews.com. November 29, 2005 (AP)

"Md. Ranks 9th On Drunken Driving Death List; Md. Traffic Fatalities Involving Alcohol Increase"
nbc4.com, November 29, 2005 (AP)

Followup:

• Ehrlichs would protect us only from young drunk drivers, but not from older drunks, Why?, December 9, 2005

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Filed in: Gory.Drunk.Drivers Sen.Giannetti Sen.Miller