New signs to memorialize DWI wreck victims

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A new state program will allow friends and relatives of people killed in drunken driving wrecks in Texas to buy memorial signs that will be placed near the crash site for a year.

The $300 signs will be 42 inches high and 48 inches wide, with a blue background and white lettering and have the victim’s name, the wreck date, and the phrases “Please Don’t Drink and Drive” and “In Memory of” on them.  The $300 covers the cost of making the sign and putting it up which will be placed as close as possible to the crash site.

According to the Texas Department of Transportation, Texas had more than 1,670 fatalities in 2006 that involved drivers who were under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The program applies only to people killed by impaired drivers.  Impaired drivers who were killed in a crash will not be eligible.  Also, to be eligible, the victims must have been killed on a state-maintained road.

Williamson County Man Sentenced for Sixth DWI

Oscar Barbosa, 51, of Williamson County was sentenced to 33 years in prison after pleading guilty to his sixth driving-while-intoxicated conviction on Monday.

He had been arrested in September because he was weaving on U.S. 183 in Liberty Hill, according to Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley.  A breath test found that Mr. Barbosa had more than two times the legal limit of alcohol for driving in his system.

Drunken Drivers Kill More People in Texas than in Any Other State

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Texas led the country last year in the number of drunken driving fatalities with 1,354 drunken driving deaths last year (up from 34 in 2005).

Texas tied Arizona and Kansas for the largest increase in the number of fatalities while Utah, Kansas, and Iowa had the largest percentage increase.

According to the Department of Transportation, there were 13,470 deaths nationwide involving drivers or motorcycle operators with blood-alcohol levels of .08 or higher last year, the legal limit for adults in the United States. That was a slight drop from the 13,582 fatalities the year before.

Twenty-two states had more drunken driving fatalities than in the previous year while the numbers fell in 28 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Florida saw the largest drop in the number of drunken driving deaths, down 147 from its 2005 total of 1,106.

Federal transportation officials announced the statistics as they unveiled an $11 million nationwide advertising campaign against drunk driving, under the slogan “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.” They also announced plans to launch a national law enforcement crackdown.

According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, 97 percent of Americans view drunk driving as a threat to their families and themselves.

Some of the worst accidents I have seen or heard of involve drunk drivers and it is unbelievable that over 13,000 people have to pay the ultimate price for another person’s poor decisions.