Recently in Houston a news story surfaced where a man was accused killing another person while drunk and driving. The story indicated it was the fourth drunk driving offense of the accused. The week before, a news article suggested that a very serious accident was caused by a drunk driver who had two prior drunken driving incidents.

Several years ago I represented a family who had lost the husband and father to a drunk driver who was sentenced in the criminal part of the case to nineteen years in prison. The drunk driver was sixty-four years old at the time of the crash. In effect, the sentence for this drunk driver was a life sentence. Texas has become much less tolerant of drinking drivers in the last decade and the battle is ongoing.

Repeat offenders are a serious problem for communities to deal with and the dilemma involves addiction to alcohol.

Many alcoholics who don’t find treatment or fall off the wagon after treatment can be a danger to themselves and to our community at large.

Often a judge may sentence an alcoholic to charged with a crime other than DWI to jail time in an effort to help them deal with their addiction.

Greg Baumgartner is a semi truck accident attorney and the founder of the Baumgartner Law Firm with its principal law office in Houston, Texas.