Losing a loved one is never easy.
Nobody can explain the amount of grief and pain one experiences at the loss of a loved one. Whether it’s a death by natural causes or by an accident, once a loved one is lost the emptiness is permanent.
One of the leading causes of death in the USA is car accidents.
In the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2020 statistics, more than 200,000 deaths were caused by accidents. That is 16.8% among all the other causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, and COVID-19 as 1st to 3rd respectively.
According to NHTSA, there are about 28 people who die because of drunk driving every day.
The consequences for individuals caught driving under the influence (DUI) vary by state. The most common penalties are fines, license suspension, community service, and jail time for more serious offenses. Some states also require the installation of an ignition interlock device in the vehicle.
However, these penalties can never adequately ‘pay’ for the loss of someone’s life.
No matter how hefty the fine is or how long the offender needs to spend time in jail, a dead loved one is a dead loved one all the same. This is even more challenging for children who have lost their parents to DUI at a young age.
This is why lawmakers created Bentley’s Law.
Bentley’s Law, or HB 1834, was created by Cecilia Williams after losing her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson to a drunk driving accident. This left her to other grandsons, Bentley and Mason, orphaned in her care.
The Bentley’s Law “seeks financial restitution from any DUI offenders whose crime resulted in the death of a parent or guardian.”
The law requires DUI offenders to give child support until the child turns 18.
Should the offender be sentenced to jail and, therefore, couldn’t earn the financial capacity to do so, they can start paying for financial assistance once they get out of jail and work to earn it.
In effect, this law can make people think twice about going behind that wheel when drunk.
They’re also hoping that this will reduce repeat offenders. For Cecilia, this law is important because this is about raising a child, after all.
Cecilia worked with her state representative to push and pass this law.
To her, this fight is personal. She saw how her grandsons suffered after the death of their family. It hit her hard, too, having to take care of them with a meager financial source.
The law was first passed in Missouri, where Cecilia lives.
Tennessee followed and passed the bill last February 28. In 2018, there were a total of 244 alcohol-impaired driving fatalities, and 68.2% of them had a Blood Alcohol Concentration level of .15 and above. 22.5% of those fatalities involved repeat offenders.
These statistics are no joke, and Bentley’s Law could be a way to reduce those numbers.
“It will always be a constant reminder to the offender of what the person’s actions have caused,” Williams said.
Learn more about Bentley’s Law in the video below.
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ARVE Error: need id and providerSource: YouTube – ABC24 Memphis, FOX29 Philadelphia, FOX17 Nashville, Bentley’s Law Facebook Group
