Driven to re-offend

Driven to re-offend



Igor Grabovskiy was convicted of driving under the influence 11 years ago.

He was convicted twice again in 1999, twice in 2000 and once each in 2001 and 2002. The last conviction landed him in prison for slightly more than two years but it didn't stop him from drinking.
In March 2005, Grabovskiy was arrested on DUI charges in Multnomah County. In December of the same year, while the Multnomah County case was pending, he was stopped by police in the 600 block of Young Street in Woodburn and arrested on DUI charges.
On those convictions he was sentenced to a total of five years in prison.
Grabovskiy is an example of a frustrating problem for public-safety and public-health officials: people who drive while drunk or on drugs, not just once but time and time again.
Grabovskiy is one of 26 people in Marion and Polk counties who have been convicted of a second, third or fourth felony DUI charge since 2005. To get a felony, a driver must be convicted of driving under the influence at least four times in a 10-year span.
There's no magic formula for keeping impaired drivers off roads, experts say. Local agencies, task forces and governments have ramped up efforts to prevent and respond to impaired-driving problems. They've had limited success.
Law enforcement officials make about 25,000 DUI arrests annually in Oregon.
Since 1998, convictions have increased nearly 10 percent, and fatalities have declined 17 percent.
But critics say impaired drivers are still too easily allowed back on the road.
"In Oregon, it's not really like three strikes, you're out. It's like five strikes and you're out," Oregon Crime Victims United President Steve Doell said.
As a result, people can drive under the influence repeatedly. Nationally, about one-third of impaired drivers arrested in a year are repeat offenders, and they're 40 percent more likely to be in a crash.
Oregonians are paying the price in money and lives.
Taxpayers spent nearly $1 billion in 2006 because of law enforcement, incarceration costs and crash damages related to substance abuse.
Impaired drivers killed 233 people in 2008.