Dukakis Advocates Breathalyzers

In an address yesterday at the School of Public Health, Governor Michael S. Dukakis lobbied for the passage of a bill that would make breathalyzer tests more important in determining whether a driver should be convicted for drunk driving.

Dukakis made his remarks alongside Quincy District Justice Albert L. Kramer and H. Laurence Ross, a visiting sociology professor, at a forum on the deterence of drunk driving, sponsored by the Public Health School's Center for Health Communication.

Speaking to about 100 students, educators, and state representatives, the governor plugged his Safe Roads Act, saying, "The people of Massachusetts support tougher measures against drunk drivers."

The act would, among other measures, make driving with a blood alcohol content (BAC) greater than 10 percent grounds for conviction on drunk driving charges. This automatic "administration per se" rule would dispel drivers' and jurors' uncertainty over what exactly constitutes drunk driving, Dukakis said.

Different Reactions?

"Some people think, because different people react differently to alcohol, that some individuals may not to be too impaired to drive with a blood alcohol content of .10 or higher," Dukakis said.

"They're plain wrong," he said, citing medical and scientific evidence. "At and above .10, their brain and central nervous system are literally bathed in enough alcohol to make [the drivers] unsafe pilots," he said.

The act also would require immediate surrender of licenses to the arresting police officer by drivers whose breathalyzer readings exceed .10. Currently, many drivers continue to drive after they have been arrested, claiming when caught that although their license is suspended, that they had not received full notification, he said.

Dukakis defended the machine-tests' reliability and constitutionality. He cited the federal standards that insure the tests' performance and accuracy, and a 1983 California state supreme court decision upholding the constitutionality of the "per se" law.

"Moreover, breath tests favor the subjects tested by consistently underestimating an individual's true blood alcohol content," he said.

Judge Kramer emphasized the need for consistency in the punishment and teatment for drunk driving. A provision of the Safe Roads Act giving prosecutors seven days to investigate a defendant's previous drunk driving record would ensure appropriate sentencing of multiple offenders, he said.

Since the average BAC of first offenders is .17, most of these people are serious alcoholics, Kramer said. Treating alcoholism therefore, is very important, he said.

Certain Punishment

While he requires a 30-week alcohol treatment program, many other judges only require 8-week programs, Kramer said. He called for a more consistent treatment policy.

Ross, who is visiting Harvard from New Mexico, has studied the effectiveness of different methods of deterring drunk driving worldwide. "Punishment must be certain, severe and swift," he said.

Although drunk driving deserves preventive action, the payoffs of putting our resources in the prevention of general highway fatalities are more sizable, he said.

"The installation of air bags and use of seat belts could reduce fatalities by 60 percent," he said. "Even if drunk driving were erradicated entirely, fatalities would only be reduced by 25 percent," he said.

"These [policies] aren't implemented because their costs are up front," he said. "Deterence [of drunk driving] is popular because it looks free, but enforcement of law isn't free either."