New License Plate for Drunk Driving Offenders
Drunk driving offenders will soon have a hard time keeping their past a secret under a new law next year, because they'll have a special license plate on their cars. Julie Hinds with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles describes the new plate saying, "It's bright yellow and red numbers. It's very hard to miss."
The new plates will be issued to all drunk driving offenders in the state of Ohio, whether it's their first offense or their fifth. And, the plates will go on any vehicle that person drives...a personal car, a car used for work, or a car their spouse drives. That's something that attorney Dennis Evans says may go too far. "I can't imagine too many spouses who would want to drop the children off at school in a car with red and yellow plates."
And, Evans says the effects of this new law will be enormous, leading to fewer guilty pleas and more offenders fighting the charge. He adds, "Their neighbors who live down the street from them, who see them drive their car through the neighborhood, will now realize they are a convicted drunk driver."
Even the bill's sponsor, Representative Scott Oelslager, a Canton Republican, says he believes these plates are very strict for first time offenders. He's introduced a "clean-up" bill which would limit the plates only to second time offenders or worse.
Drunk driving offenders will soon have a hard time keeping their past a secret under a new law next year, because they'll have a special license plate on their cars. Julie Hinds with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles describes the new plate saying, "It's bright yellow and red numbers. It's very hard to miss."
The new plates will be issued to all drunk driving offenders in the state of Ohio, whether it's their first offense or their fifth. And, the plates will go on any vehicle that person drives...a personal car, a car used for work, or a car their spouse drives. That's something that attorney Dennis Evans says may go too far. "I can't imagine too many spouses who would want to drop the children off at school in a car with red and yellow plates."
And, Evans says the effects of this new law will be enormous, leading to fewer guilty pleas and more offenders fighting the charge. He adds, "Their neighbors who live down the street from them, who see them drive their car through the neighborhood, will now realize they are a convicted drunk driver."
Even the bill's sponsor, Representative Scott Oelslager, a Canton Republican, says he believes these plates are very strict for first time offenders. He's introduced a "clean-up" bill which would limit the plates only to second time offenders or worse.