The State of Rhode Island Has a Big "Drunken Driving" Problem

"Families, law enforcement ask General Assembly to strengthen impaired driving laws"
Rhode Island Current

"PROVIDENCE — Kristine Bouthillier of West Warwick does not want to be in the spotlight. She just wants her son’s life to return to the way it used to be.

She knows that is impossible. So instead, Bouthillier was standing at a podium in Senate Judiciary room 313 at the Rhode Island State House on May 25. She told her listeners about the night in the winter of 2022 when her then 17-year-old son, Kevin MacDonald, and his best friend Matt Dennison, also 17, were hit by an alleged drunken driver on Route 102 in Exeter while returning from a hockey game and going to another one...

...One Bill, sponsored by Sen. Leonidas Raptakis, a Coventry Democrat, would extend the limit on prior offenses that police take into consideration when charging an impaired driver with a more serious repeat offense from five to 10 years. Companion legislation is sponsored in the House by Rep. Patricia Serpa, a West Warwick Democrat." Read the full story by Christopher Shea at Rhode Island Current