Despite the best efforts of public safety campaigns, citizen organizations like MADD, and a wide variety of other efforts to reduce the number of people who get behind the wheel after drinking, the number of drunk driving arrests, convictions, and accidents remains at a somewhat steady level. In the most recent year for which records are available, 44% of traffic fatalities involve alcohol use or abuse as a cause of the accident.

In an effort to reduce the number of citizens involved in drunken driving accidents, the state has adopted the stance that deterrence may be more likely the harsher the punishments are for those who are caught drinking and driving. Punishments that are meant to deter people from committing the offense in question are expected to stop the current or original offender from committing the same crime again because he or she will be in jail or otherwise indisposed. The other prong of deterrence is a hope that others will opt not to partake in the illegal or bad behavior in an effort to avoid the punishment that they know will hit them.

Part of the deterrence factor when it comes to drunk driving is that the amount of punishment escalates with the number of convictions for drunk driving. The state, basically, announces that it is not as concerned about an “oops” occurrence as it is with those who habitually engaged in the habit of drinking and then driving. The escalation is also meant to discourage those who are one away from a lengthy prison sentence from drinking and driving that one more time that pushes them over the edge.

Felony drunk driving is part of the program of escalating sentences employed by states to deter individuals from drinking and driving. First of all, a felony is a crime that is punishable by a year or more in prison. There are levels of felonies but as a rule, they are all punishable by a year or more in a penitentiary or prison.

Felony drunk driving in many starts at the third drunken driving conviction. This mirrors the ‘three strikes’ policies or laws that some of the same states have enacted to discourage general criminal behavior. In addition, states have linked their drunken driving statutes to other crimes. For example, assault with a deadly weapon can be charged in some states if the person operates a car while intoxicated. In this situation, the car is a deadly weapon. Murder and manslaughter have also been tied to drunk driving in some states.