Pubdate: Wed, 03 March 1999 Source: San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune (CA) Copyright: 1999 San Luis Obispo County Telegram-Tribune Contact: P.O. Box 112, San Luis Obispo, CA 93406-0112 Website: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/ Section: Opinion IT'S A CASE OF GOING TOO FAR The issue: New York has tough drunken driving law Our view: It may encroach on civil liberties New York City has stirred debate across the country with the harshest law anywhere against drunken driving. The measure strikes us as too strict, if not illegal. We also think, however, cities everywhere should confront an issue that plagues communities as small as those on the Central Coast and as large as New York or Los Angeles. New York now can confiscate the vehicle of any motorist arrested as a drunken driver. The key word is "arrested," not convicted. As much as we favor harsh penalties for DWIs, it's hard for us to imagine the courts upholding a law that says, in effect, you're punished without due process. We have no sympathy for drunken drivers, especially those who are arrested time and again. Nationally, 16,000 people are killed every year by tipsy motorists, but we're well beyond the point where sta- tistics should have to be cited as an argument to punish offenders. Statistics don't save lives. Nor, we regret to say, do long-running, graphic educational campaigns against DWI. Nor do tough penalties. Nor, worst of all, does tragedy that's inflicted on innocent victims. It's understandable, then, why New York - where 6,368 DWI arrests were made last year - has decided to go to the next level of penalty. One can hardly quarrel with New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani when he says: "Whatever side of this debate you are on, there is a very simple way to stay out of this problem. Do not drink and get behind the wheel of a car. Just do not do it." As expected, the American Civil Liberties Union was quick to register opposition to the law, calling it excessive and un- constitutional. Until the courts act, New York police will make arrest and seize vehicles, in the hope the measure will cut down on the number of DWI cases. It's a noble experiment, but also a daring one in terms of civil liberties.