Pubdate: Mon, 6 June 1999 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 1999 The Orange County Register Contact: http://www.ocregister.com/ DRUNKEN DRIVING LANDS HALF-MILLION IN TROUBLE Reflecting tougher punishment for those who mix drinking and driving,more than half a million motorists were on probation or behind bars for driving while intoxicated in 1997, almost twice the level of the mid-1980s, the government said Sunday. During the same period, drunken driving arrests dropped - from 1.8 million in 1986 to 1.5 million in 1997 - even though the number of licensed drivers increased almost 15 percent, to 183 million, the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics announced. The bureau attributed the decline in arrests in part to the aging of licensed drivers. Younger drivers are more prone to drink and drive. In 1997, 54 percent of licensed drivers were aged 40 or older, up from 46 percent in 1986. The older the driver over age 21, the lower the rate of DWI arrests, the government reported. Of those convicted of DWI in 1997, 454,5000 were on probation, 41,100 were in local jails and 17,600 were in state prisons. In 1986, 270,000 people were behind bars or on probation for DWI. - --- MAP posted-by: Don Beck