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Tougher MN DWI law takes effect Friday
A stricter DWI law is taking effect Friday in Minnesota. FOX 9's Soyoung Kim has the story.
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. (FOX 9) - A deadly car crash at a restaurant patio inspired change. Minnesota lawmakers representing St. Louis Park led the effort after the tragedy, motivating them to reform the state’s DWI law.
READ MORE: New Minnesota laws set to go into effect in August: Here's what's changing
Stricter DWI laws
The backstory:
A drunken driver incident at Park Tavern in St. Louis Park killed two people and injured a dozen. Last September, a driver plowed into the patio.
RELATED: Park Tavern deadly patio crash: Steven Bailey sentenced in drunken incident
The driver in the incident, Steven Bailey, had five prior drunk driving convictions.
Earlier this week, Bailey was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
What they're saying:
Minnesota State Rep. Larry Kraft (DFL-St. Louis Park) sponsored the bill to expand the state’s ignition interlock program and get tougher DWI policies.
"Victims, and families, and friends that were impacted. Many of them shared their stories with me," said Kraft. My main goal was oh my gosh what happened here, and how on Earth did this happen and how do we prevent it."
State Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) was a key partner in this effort.
"The immediate response was obviously the sorrow for what happened, but then how can we solve this so it’s less likely to happen again. It turned out, as we learned more about it, that he had been on interlock, that he had a longer history, that he complied with all the requirements for reinstatement. Part of the issue was the interlock needed to be required for longer period of time when you start getting lengthier history like he has," said Rep. Latz.
Big picture view:
Lawmakers said the ignition interlock is an effective breathalyzer tool to prevent driving under the influence and could potentially save lives.
"What might stop you is if you can’t start your car. If you don’t have access to another car. Or when you are not drinking, it reminds you, you’ve got to pay attention to this, so if you are going to go out and drink, don’t drive," said Latz.
The new Minnesota DWI law will take effect August 1st. It increased the number of years someone will be required to be on the ignition interlock device. Extended the lookback period for prior offenses from 10 to 20 years. So, a longer history will be used to determine ignition interlock requirements. Plus, it reduced some financial barriers to the process of reinstatement.
The Source: Minnesota House of Representatives, Minnesota Senate, Governor Tim Walz, previous FOX 9 reporting.