Tennessee became the first state in the U.S. to charge DUI drivers who cause a fatality and child support for their victims’ surviving children.
As of January 1, Tennessee became the first state in the U.S. to charge DUI drivers who cause a fatality child support for their victims’ surviving children. (Photo: Yahoo News)
Tennessee, First State To Charge Child Support To Drunk Drivers Who Kill Parents
Children who lost their custodial parents to a drunk driver are the concept of why the new law exists bearing the name Ethan, Hailey, and Bentley’s Law. Last spring, Tennessee’s governor signed the bill into law.
This didn’t take effect until Jan. 1. Starting in 2023, those who are convicted of vehicular homicide or aggravated vehicular homicide in the state will be required to pay child support until the victim’s kids are 18.
As stated by Jalopnik, Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania are also considering creating a similar bill. Killing people with your bad decisions in New York and Missouri might be just as painful as Tennessee’s law.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving supports the bill and comes from tenacious Missouri grandmother Cecilia Williams, who is raising two of her grandchildren after her son, his partner, and their 4-month-old baby were killed in a drunk driving crash.
As of January 1, Tennessee became the first state in the U.S. to charge DUI drivers who cause a fatality child support for their victims’ surviving children. (Photo: Yahoo News)
The Long-Term Effect of Such Law on Drunk Driving
In the long run, this law is to discourage drunk drivers to prohibit themselves from getting behind the wheel. A lot of consequences were provided for these drunk drivers. These are as follows: jail time, losing licenses, and losing tens of thousands of dollars in fees but these have done little to slow the drunk driving slaughter on our roads.
Last year, fatal crashes were at a 16-year high and this year isn’t looking much better. There has been a 24 percent rise in self-reported drunk driving behavior this year as reported by AAA.
This has become a widespread problem that there’s even a problem with cops getting DUIs. An example of this is the Los Angeles Police Department. They had seven officers arrested over the holidays for drunk driving.
