How Many DWI Arrests Have Been Made in Austin This Year?

The Austin Police Department (APD) says that drunk driving is one of the biggest problems for the city of Austin. KXAN reports that between January and June of this year, 2,900 drivers have been arrested and charged with DWI.

To take this issue head-on, the APD hosted a two-hour traffic safety symposium that included leaders from state, county and city government. Austinites joined the discussion to help city leaders figure out ways of eliminating DWIs.

Police Chief Art Acevedo discussed the seriousness of the situation by citing DWI statistics from 2013 in Austin:

• There were 27 deadly DWI crashes.
• There were 364 DWI crashes that resulted in serious injuries.
• APD arrested 6,404 people for DWI.

How Can Austin Reduce Drunk Driving?

Acevedo said that he wanted to get as many ideas as possible on ways to reduce DWIs during the symposium. He plans to use these suggestions to help make changes within other departments that are responsible for public safety.

There were many ideas on dealing with this problem, below are a few of those suggestions:

• Bus lines that run 24 hours a day
• Reduced speed limits
• Improved cross walks
• Harsher punishments for those charged with a DWI

Acevedo said that it is outrageous that some drunk drivers will get probation after killing innocent people in a car crash. He told KXAN, “We will not tolerate the death of our neighbors, the death of our family members and we will not tolerate them having life changing injuries that are all preventable from these drunk drivers.”

Although it is early in the process, we hope the traffic safety symposium brings reforms to how the city of Austin deals with these reckless drivers.

The Law Offices of Aaron Allison – Austin Personal Injury Attorney