The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "drunken drivers" ...
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"Dodging DWIs"
The criminal justice system in St. Louis "has failed to punish drunken drivers." After multiple people were killed in drunk driving related accidents, reporters revealed that in St. Louis County, felony charges were not often issued to repeat offenders. Few people accused of a DWI actually have it placed on their record. Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon has called for an examination of the broken system.
Tags: Jay Nixon; Robert McCulloch; St. Louis; St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney; drunk driving; DWI; DUI; driving while intoxicated
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Fit to Drive?
According to this Dispatch report, "167 school-bus drivers in Ohio have records of drunken driving or drug abuse." The investigation includes a chart of where in Ohio these drivers operate, and also notes the difficulty "for school officials to check backgrounds on drivers or keep those with drunken-driving convictions out of school buses." Individuals with such histories are profiled.The superintendent of the State Highway Patrol is quoted saying that as someone who has arrested drunken drivers, "I would never want any of these people driving a bus."
Tags: buses; drunk driving; drunk driving convictions; background checks; Ohio bus drivers; school buses
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DUI Dilemma
This story investigates how drivers with multiple DUI's are still driving, even when their licenses are suspended. In the course of the investigation it was discovered that "DUI enforcement is often a low priority with police, that deals are routinely cut when cases reach the courts, and that even drunk drivers who are sentenced to prison don't always do the time."
Tags: drunk driving; DUI; police; Cleaveland; jail time; drunken driving
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DWI: Sobering Acquittals; DWI Dismissals: Wrecked Lives; Underage Drinking and Driving: Guilty? Yes. Punished? No.
These stories reveal that North Carolina judges pardoned more than a third of those charged with drunken driving. Using databases from the courts and state alcohol test records, the reporters show how many drunk drivers were acquitted in court and returned to the roads to maim and kill yet more victims. Young drivers between the ages of 16 and 20 were acquitted and their licences were not revoked. Especially in the coastal counties of Carteret, Craven and Pamlico, the conviction rate is less than 15 percent.
Tags: drunk driving; drinking and driving; North Carolina judges; Carteret County; Craven County; Pamlico County; Wake County; North Carolina counties; NC convictions for drinking and driving
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A .10 Isn't Enough
This story deals with alcohol breath analysis. The 1990 conviction rate for drivers who registered .10 or more and were prosecuted for DWI is 85.4 percent. That figure is the lowest since the Safe Roads Act overhauled drunken driving laws eight years before. The courts' treatment of DWI cases is not as consistent as the legislature hopes when it passed the Safe Roads Act. Conviction rates are also inconsistent, varying among North Carolina counties.
Tags: Safe Roads Act; DWI; DUI; Division of Motor Vehicles; Breathalyzer; Intoxilyzer; state DWI conviction rate; Department of Environment; Health and Natural Resources; alcohol concentration; Highway Patrol
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Hospitals caught in the middle
USA Today's review of 10 studies found that injured drunken drivers taken to hospitals are prosecuted less than half the time.
Tags: drunk driving; drunk drivers; blood alcohol reporting; impaired motorists; hospitals; trauma centers; confidentiality; NHTSA; blood alcohol levels
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No gain, no pain? Study is hot topic
The Law Journal reports on a study concluding "that whiplash patients heal more quickly under a no-fault insurance system -- which is mostly lawyer-free -- than under one permitting crash victims to sue." But lawyers and automobile crash victims argue the no-fault system provide inadequate compensation and immunizes bad drivers from being sued. Only 13 states have no-fault systems, which limit the right to sue.
Tags: drunken driving; claims; lawsuits; justice; automobiles; road accidents
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Loaded for trouble: Why we can't stop drinking and driving
The Inquirer investigates why the drunken driving problem is so persistent in Philadelphia and nationwide. The series' main findings are that there is a link between bar concentrations and crashes points; disparities in law enforcement from one town to another hamper efforts to curb drunken driving; DUI crash and arrest numbers are deceptively low because they do not count for hit-runs and the many cases when drunken drivers are on the road before arrested.
Tags: police; courts; automobiles; road accidents; databases; computer-assisted reporting; database mapping project
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Getting away with DWI
A Buffalo News investigation shows 75 percent of drunken-driving defendants in Erie County receive lesser convictions because judges and prosecutors are lenient for first-time offenders and because some judges do not accept the results of a new-generation Breathalyzer.
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On the road again
Drunken drivers are processed through Illinois metro-east courtrooms without losing their licenses. The reason is that judges disregard Illinois' strict DUI law which calls for automatic suspensions, and agree to plea bargains that allow drunken drivers to keep their licenses. Pawlaczyk reports that those who get the deals often are the worst offenders.
Tags: drunken drivers; DUI; Illinois; police; judges; sobriety; hit-and-run; fines; counseling; probation; supervision; police reports; dropped suspensions