New Hampshire Hikes Penalties for Drunk Driving
Under a law signed by Gov. Chris Sununu, judges can sentence drivers with previous DWI convictions up to 20 years behind bars.
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Under a law signed by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, drunk drivers who seriously injure or kill another person will face lengthy prison terms, reports the Concord Monitor. The Tyler Shaw Law, named for a 20-year-old Concord, NH resident who died in April 2018, allows judges to give longer prison sentences to drunk drivers convicted of negligent homicide who have previous convictions for driving while intoxicated. Under the new law, drivers with one previous DWI conviction who cause a crash that kills or seriously injures another person can now get 10 to 20 years in prison; those with two or more can receive a 15 to 30-year sentence.
Although it’s difficult to estimate exactly how often this law would be applied, repeat drunk driving is a problem in New Hampshire. Between October 11, 2017, when the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles updated its record-keeping system, and May 11, 2021, the DMV listed 24 people with three or more DWIs. Of those individuals, seven people had at least four convictions. 2018 research from the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration found that drivers in fatal crashes with blood alcohol content at or above the legal limit were 4.5 times more likely to have prior convictions for driving while impaired, compared to sober drivers in fatal crashes.
