HELENA — Montana Attorney General Steve Bullock on Thursday proposed a statewide expansion of a pilot program that requires anyone arrested more than once for drunken driving to take a breath test twice a day.

Bullock said the expansion would be the first step in his plan to toughen the state’s drunken-driving laws. He is also proposing criminal penalties for drivers who refuse to take a blood or breath test. And he wants to create a new charge of aggravated DUI for anyone who drives with a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 percent or higher.

The legal limit for drivers is 0.08.

The Democratic attorney general’s proposals would have to pass the GOP-controlled Legislature when lawmakers convene next month.

“I’m hopeful that all three of them end up with broad bipartisan support. This problem is not a Democrat or a Republican issue,” Bullock said. “I think these three (proposals) are great parts of what can be done.”

The first component — the statewide expansion of the 24/7 Sobriety Project — has taken a first step with Republican Rep.-elect Steve Lavin of Kalispell planning to sponsor the bill.

The proposal would require repeat offenders across the state to stay sober 24 hours a day, seven days a week from the time they are arrested until the completion of their sentence. Under the program, borrowed from South Dakota, an offender who fails a breath test or does not show up for one is jailed and their bond is revoked.

Lavin, a former Montana Highway Patrol officer, called it fiscally responsible legislation that won’t cost the taxpayers any money because those who have to take the breath tests also have to pay for them.

“I just don’t see any opposition to it,” Lavin said. “I’ve talked to quite a few of my comrades, and they seem to like it.”

Lavin said he was not as familiar with the other two proposals — criminal penalties for people who refuse drunken-driving tests and increased penalties for those convicted of driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 percent or higher — but that they sounded like good ideas.

Bullock’s office plans to have legislation drafted for his proposal to criminalize breath-test refusals.

A legislative committee has been working during the interim on nearly a dozen proposals dealing with drunken driving to take to the 2011 Legislature. One of the Law and Justice Interim Committee’s proposals would create an aggravated DUI charge for a blood-alcohol content of 0.2 and above.

Bullock said he plans to ask the committee to amend its legislation to lower the threshold to 0.15.

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More than one year after then-Transport Minister Julie Boulet recommended Quebec act to lower the legal blood-alcohol limit for drivers, current Transport Minister Sam Hamad has killed the plan.

Hamad made the announcement while tabling a list of changes to Bill 71 to modify the Highway Safety Code.

He said that evidence is lacking that dropping the legal blood-alcohol limit from 0.08 mg/100 ml of blood to 0.05 mg/100 ml will have any effect on road safety.

In February 2010 Mothers Against Drunk Driving noted that 20% of all drunk-driving deaths are caused by people who get behind the wheel with a blood-alcohol level between 0.05 and 0.08 mg/100 ml.

The report tabled in October, 2009, recommended a 24-hour suspension for any driver found to have a blood-alcohol level above 0.05 mg/100 ml, along with an immediate seizure of their vehicle.

Hamad did not say whether other measures initially proposed, including a zero-tolerance policy toward drivers age 21 and under, would still go forward.

However he did note that people found guilty of a third drunk-driving offence would not be allowed to own a vehicle unless it was equipped with an alcohol ignition lock.

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PARK CITY, Utah — A gold medal-winning U.S. Olympic bobsledder is fighting his drunken-driving charge in Utah that his lawyer says could keep him from competing in Canada.

Steve Holcomb’s trial was scheduled for March 17 in Park City by a judge for Summit County’s justice court Tuesday.

Holcomb, a 30-year-old Park City native, is the pilot for the U.S. champion four-man team. The team captured a gold medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, America’s first gold in the sport since 1948.

“Steve understands the seriousness of the situation and apologizes to his fans and teammates,” his lawyer, Jason Schatz, told The Associated Press.

Schatz said Canada won’t issue visas to people with drunken-driving convictions or pending charges.

He said he was trying to negotiate an exception from Canadian immigration officials for Holcomb but “unfortunately, the process is not that speedy.”

The attorney said Holcomb will contest the Utah charge at trial if Canada doesn’t relent.

“If Canada turns down our request for a visa, we’ll have no choice but to litigate the case,” Schatz told the judge.

First, he said he would file a motion to toss evidence gathered by Summit County sheriff’s deputies at Holcomb’s traffic stop.

Summit County Attorney David Brickley said the only plea deal he’ll consider is an impaired driving conviction.

That’s a misdemeanor, the same as driving while intoxicated. It wouldn’t help Holcomb win a Canadian visa.

Holcomb was stopped Oct. 22, 2009, for making an illegal U-turn on state Route 224, the main highway leading to Park City, sheriff’s Detective Ron Bridge said.

He registered 0.19 on a breath test — more than twice Utah’s legal intoxication limit of 0.08, according to authorities.

Holcomb’s career hinges on his ability to compete in World Cup events in Canada, but to do so he needs to beat the Utah charge, Schatz said.

“Competitive bobsledding events are held in Canada all the time,” he said.

The prosecutor said his only obligation is to prepare for a trial. The charge against Holcomb was tossed out a month after the traffic stop because a sheriff’s deputy failed to sign a DUI citation correctly, but Brickley said he refiled the case.

Holcomb wasn’t required to appear in court Tuesday.

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SCOTTSDALE – Arizona has some of the toughest drunk driving laws in the country, and many people who are arrested don’t even think they’re over the limit.

Police departments across the valley have launched their annual drunk driving task force to coincide with the holiday.

On the first offense, a convicted drunk driver has to serve a minimum of 10 days in Tent City jail, pay fines and fees in the thousands, and their license is suspended for 90 days.

That’s a big punishment for someone who decides to get behind the wheel after a couple of drinks at a holiday party or a few glasses of wine over dinner. The question is — are the DUI laws too strict?

One of the big problem police encounter with drunk drivers — people who just don’t realize they’ve had too many. Scottsdale Police show us how they are trying to change that.

It’s the epicenter of valley nightlife. On any given night, Scottsdale restaurants and bars are filled, and when the weekend hits, the clubs are jam packed and the drinks are always flowing.

The question at the end of night is the same for many. Have I had too much — can I drive home? That’s where these Scottsdale police officers come in, but this is not what you think.

The people blowing into the breathalyzer haven’t done anything wrong, and they weren’t behind the wheel.

“A lot of people aren’t really educated about alcohol, that’s one of our biggest goals, to get the word out to the public to let them know what they are drinking and what it does to the system,” says Officer Anthony Bellissimo.

The program “Know Your Limit” aims to keep any potential drunk drivers off the road proactively.

“At best we can deal with one DUI driver at a time on the roadway. Our goal is to get the people that potentially drive a vehicle, prior to getting them in the vehicle.”

Officers go out in the middle of the partiers, letting them see the reality of their drinking for themselves. They asked people on the sidewalk if they wanted a breathalyzer test — and many people were way off in their estimates.

“Between 50 to 60 percent of the people we contact think they were ok to drive and find out that they weren’t. So it’s a large concentration of people that we keep from driving when they shouldn’t.”

BIG INTERVIEW | Joining us are Officer Bellissimo and criminal defense attorney Scott Maasen. Maasen has a radical idea about drunk driving laws and their penalties — he thinks they are too harsh. Press play to watch the live debate.

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Many Pennsylvania drivers underestimate ticketing for drinking and driving, state Department of Transportation survey results show.

And an overwhelming majority of drivers surveyed say they buckle up and turn off cell phones while driving.

“Absolutely, the majority of Pennsylvania drivers are good drivers, from a state police perspective,” said Lt. Myra A. Taylor of the Pennsylvania State Police.

She added that it is a bit frustrating to see a survey indicating a belief that drunken drivers are rarely ticketed.

“We do our best to get those drivers off the road,” she said.

More than half of the 3,800-plus people who took part in PennDOT’s Highway Safety Survey earlier this year said they rarely thought someone would be arrested or cited for impaired driving or not wearing a seat belt.

State police made about 400 arrests for drunken driving, and issued more than 1,000 seat-belt citations for drivers and children not properly wearing a seat belt during the Thanksgiving holiday (Wednesday to Friday.)

Most of the survey respondents indicated they use a seat belt all or most of the time. James Barnhart of New Freeport, Greene County, sees himself quickly joining the 92 percent of drivers surveyed who almost always buckle up.

“I will always be wearing a seat belt for work,” said the 34-year-old, who passed his commercial driver’s license test Thursday and will be required to buckle up on the job.

A majority of motorists surveyed also indicated that they turn their phones off so that they can stay focused on the road.

Locally, Mike Contrillo, 60, of Johnstown, said he owns a cell phone but does not use it while driving.

Contrillo, also a helmet-wearing motorcycle rider, criticizes a specific demographic of motorists: “Young girls on cell phones.”

Many may share Contrillo’s image of inattentive texting teenagers behind the wheel, but 19-year-old Pitt-Johnstown student Laura Zubal breaks that stereotype.

“Texting while driving is tempting, but it’s dangerous, and I don’t do it,” said Zubal, who commutes to campus from Geistown.

Her brother, Doug Zubal, vouched for her, saying she nervously clenches the wheel of her Hyundai Elantra and doesn’t dare look at her phone.

Zubal is joined by the 92 percent of survey takers who say they do not text or e-mail while driving, and 81 percent who indicated that they never or rarely talk on a handheld phone.

However, UPS driver Ted Bantroba, who frequently travels through Johnstown-area municipalities including Ferndale, Moxham and Belmont, doubts that finding’s accuracy.

Bantroba spends his entire workday on the road, getting in and out of his truck about 200 times. Buckling up and unbuckling each time, he wears out seat belts like socks.

“I see it every day, and I’ve seen four or five drivers in a row either texting or talking on a cell phone.” Bantroba said, resting in his truck for a moment.

“I would think the percentage of cell phone drivers is much higher.”

Bantroba said drivers need to stay focused this time of year as snow begins to fall.

In line at a Richland Township Burger King drive-through, Bob and Mary Anne Strittmatter of Windber said they do not use cell phones in the car.

“Using cell phones while driving should be outlawed,” Mary Anne Strittmatter said. “It’s just wrong.”

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A legal loophole may have allowed hundreds of people to avoid having devices installed in their vehicles designed to prevent them from driving after drinking, a lawmaker said.

The loophole has turned the ignition lock requirement into a negotiating point in some plea bargains, Sen. Drew Perkins told the Casper Star-Tribune in Sunday’s editions.

“There were probably several hundred first-time DUIs that would have been required to have ignition interlocks that didn’t happen,” said Perkins, a Casper Republican.

The law, which took effect last year, requires first-time drinking-and-driving offenders to have the devices on their vehicles for six months if their blood-alcohol level was 0.15 percent or more.

A second DUI conviction requires drivers to use the device for one year, and a third means using it for two years. With four or more DUI convictions, a driver must operate only vehicles with ignition control devices for life.

Perkins said the law relies only on blood-alcohol levels listed in paperwork filed after a DUI conviction. If the blood-alcohol level isn’t on those documents, the state can’t require the device, even if the level is listed on arrest documents.

State statistics show that fewer than 20 percent of the 745 drivers who met that criteria actually installed the devices between July 2009, when the program started, and the end of October.

Don Edington, manager of the state Transportation Department driver services program, said officials don’t know for certain why the others didn’t.

A total of 500 devices have been installed in that period, including first-time and repeat offenders, he said.

The law has other loopholes, the newspaper reported. Offenders can ignore the requirement to install the device, have their licenses suspended and continue to drive illegally.

Perkins said he plans to sponsor a bill in the next session to close the loopholes.

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Employing an unusual but not untested tactic in defense against drunk driving charges, a Missouri man was acquitted by a jury of his DUI charges after testifying that he got drunk after crashing his car to keep warm, not before.

Thomas Drummond told the court he had been out with friends the night of the accident, reports The Southeast Missourian. While navigating icy conditions he missed a turn on an unfamiliar road, then attempted to turn around and drove into a culvert, he testified.

Drummond said he wasn’t intoxicated when he drove into the culvert but was two hours later when emergency workers and authorities arrived, the Missourian reports.

“It was the day before the Super Bowl and he had just done some shopping,” Defense Attorney Stephen Wilson said Monday. “It was 32 degrees or colder out and he had brandy in the car, so he kept warm.”

Earlier this year, Bravo TV’s Real Housewives of New Jersey star Joe Giudice made similar claims when he flipped his pickup truck late one night. After crawling out of his destroyed Ford truck, Giudice said on the TV show that he had a couple of shots of whiskey with friends who happened to live nearby to calm his nerves before police and emergency crews arrived.

Regardless, police took custody of Giudice because of outstanding municipal warrants and charged him with a DUI, reports The Newark Star-Ledger.

Giudice was not as lucky as Drummond, however, as he was fined $864, had his driver’s license revoked for 12 months and was sentenced to 30 days of community service, reports the Examiner.

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CHICAGO — IL police are stepping up seat-belt and drunken driving enforcement over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Police will be scouring roadways in a five-state mobilization effort covering Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio.

Michael Witter is regional administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and he says the goal is to save lives.

During the 2008 Thanksgiving holiday season, the most recent data available, 1,120 people died in vehicle crashes nationwide. In cases with seat-belt information available, more than half of those killed weren’t buckled up.

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The Laramie City Council has given preliminary approval to penalties for drunken drivers that are tougher than Wyoming (their state) law.

The measure unanimously approved Tuesday would impose a mandatory seven-day jail sentence and a minimum $200 fine on drivers arrested with a high blood alcohol content — 0.15 or above. A repeat offender would have to serve 30 days in jail and pay a maximum fine of $750.

City Attorney Dave Clark said the city has an opinion from the attorney general saying Laramie can have an ordinance that’s stricter than state law. Also, a provision would make it an offense to refuse to take a chemical test when a police officer has reason to believe a driver is drunk.

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