Booze fuels county's vehicle crash rate

When it comes to drinking and driving, Montana is one of the worst states in the country, and Lake County drivers aren't doing much to help that.

Lake County has one of the highest rates of alcohol-related crashes among Montana counties, according to data from the state's Office of Vital statistics, but lawmakers hope that legislation introduced for the January, 2005 Legislature can help curb the problem statewide.

Specifically, statistics from 1996 to 2000 show that alcohol was involved in 15.7 percent of vehicle accidents in Lake County, compared to 9.5 percent in the state overall.

More than 54 percent of all vehicle-related fatalities in the county last year involved alcohol, compared to 37 percent statewide.

Last month, Montana received the dubious rating of being one of the "Fatal 15" by a physicians group called End Needless Death on Our Roadways. The group targeted those 15 states with the highest rates of alcohol-related traffic fatalities.

Drinking while driving is still legal throughout most of the state — as long as your blood alcohol level is under the legal limit — although many cities have ordinances against having open containers. However, there are a number of bills that will come before the 2005 Legislature that aim to curb drinking and driving, including several that will attempt to repeal the state's infamous open-container law.

Lawmakers were in Polson last month to talk to local health department, law enforcement and social services personnel about alcohol-related and other legislation.

"We tell people, 'Don't drink and drive,' but we tell people it's OK to drive around with an alcoholic beverage," said state senator Mike Cooney, a Democrat who represents District 26. "The federal government is becoming very angry with states that don't address this issue."

Several attempts to repeal the open-container law were shot down in the 2003 Legislature, although lawmakers were successful in lowering the legal blood alcohol limit to .08, which is now the standard limit in most states.

At stake are millions in dollars of federal highway funds, some of which are now being used for highway safety programs because Montana is still without an open-container ban.

Lt. Gov-elect John Bohlinger has requested an open-container bill in the Senate, which has the support of incoming Gov. Brian Schweitzer and Attorney General Mike McGrath.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Montana had 13,550 alcohol-related crashes in 2000 that killed 110 people and injured about 4,600.

"I think this is the year we will finally get an open-container ban implemented," Cooney told folks earlier this month. "It's gotten shot down in the Legislature in years past, but I think we have enough support to get it passed this year."