This Driver was Still on the Road

We have all shared the road with a weaving, erratic driver that frightens us as we travel down the highway with the family in tow. We reach for our cellphones to alert authorities, praying the out-of-control car doesn’t crash into anything before the police arrive.

The dismaying thought flashes through our mind: Oh, no, he’s drunk.

A 911 caller alerted police to a man passed out in his car on a median strip.

This was the case with an Austin, Texas, man who was arrested for DWI. But this was not just any arrest.

It was Trevor Howard’s seventh DWI arrest.

What in the world? This is the type of nightmare repeat offense that endangers others’ lives yet somehow is allowed by our penal system.

A 911 caller alerted police a few days ago to a man passed out in his car in the median strip of a North Austin road. Trevor W. Howard, 44, was arrested for driving while intoxicated, and the sheriff’s deputy noted the smell of alcohol emanating from the man.

Howard refused a breath-alcohol analysis, but he failed field sobriety tests and had a few open beer cans in his 2006 Nissan Xterra.

Howard has been convicted of DWI six other times in two Texas counties. This latest arrest is a third-degree felony, for which, if convicted, he’ll serve up to 10 years in prison, according to state law.

Drunk drivers are responsible for 30 deaths every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This amounts to a drinking-related death every 51 minutes.

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Beyond deaths and injuries, alcohol-related crashes in the United States cost federal and local governments and taxpayers approximately $51 billion each year.

Drunk drivers need to lose their licenses and/or incur jail time for drunk driving – the first time. They are, for innocent motorists, the equivalent of a game of Russian roulette played out on our nation’s roadways.

The residents of Texas can only hope this dangerous repeat offender finally gets the punishment he deserves, if he is found guilty.

These quick facts about drunk driving, from West Virginia University, are pretty sobering, especially as the nation looks ahead to Labor Day Weekend, among the deadliest holidays for drivers in this country.

• Drunk driving is the most frequently committed crime in the U.S.
• About 30 percent of all Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related car crash in their lifetime.
• More than 40 percent of all fatal auto accidents are alcohol-related.
• Auto accidents are the greatest single cause of death for young people from ages 6 to 27. Almost half these accidents involve alcohol.
• Your chance of being involved in a drunk-driving accident increases dramatically with every two beers you drink. Have a six-pack and your chances of being in a drunk-driving accident are 44 percent.
• Each year 1,700 college students die from alcohol-related accidents, including car crashes.
• Some 600,000 college students are injured while under the influence of alcohol, many of which are auto-related.
• In 2013, more than 10,000 lives were lost to alcohol-related incidents on the road.