Montana Tackles Drunk Driving

After years of leading the nation in per capita traffic fatalities related to alcohol, Montana is beginning to get tough on drinking and driving, the Associated Press reported Sept. 5.

In 2003, the state legislature rejected a ban on drinking beer while driving if the driver wasn't drunk. Until 2005, it was legal to drink and drive in some parts of Montana.

In 2008, Montana had 229 drunk driving deaths — more such deaths per miles traveled than any other state, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. By comparison, Rhode Island, a state with a similar number of inhabitants, had only 65. 

Officials said that the high-profile death of a Montana state highway patrolman in a head-on crash with a drunk driver has spurred action. The courts have gotten tougher on drunk drivers and bartenders who over-serve them, and a new pilot program in Helena requires repeat offenders to pay for daily alcohol tests.

According to Steve Bullock, the state's attorney general, the increased enforcement is helping: drunk driving deaths in Montana are down 40 percent so far this year.