New Drunk Boating Law Means Harsh Penalties

by WAKA Action 8 News

Getting arrested for boating under the influence just got more serious in Alabama with a new law signed this week. 

The new law will make the penalty for boating under the influence the same as if you were driving a car under the influence.

And with the fourth of july weekend just around the corner, marine police say it’s perfect timing. 

Alabama’s lakes are getting more and more crowded every summer, making it harder for the few marine police to keep order.

But Governor Bentley signed a new law into effect this week which will make the punishment for boating under the influence the same as driving under the influence.

Marine Police Sgt. Mark Fuller says drinking and boating gets worse every year.

“Boating under the influence on Lake Martin as well as the other bodies of water in alabama continues to be a problem. Every year we have serious boating accidents as a result of alcohol use by the operator,” said Sgt. Fuller.

Those accidents are what led the Elmore County district attorney’s office to approach lawmakers to change things. 

“The biggest thing is we were almost handcuffed in how we could charge those cases and the sentence we could get so the big push for us in this deal was to try and get some consistency because the exact same situation occurred on the highway of Alabama, the statutes specifically addressed those,” said Robinson.

Fourth of July weekend is only a few weeks away. 

With the holiday falling on a Friday, Sgt. Fuller is expecting record numbers out on the lake. 

“Well I can tell you I’m hopeful that it will cut down on the number. Unfortunately sometimes people have to be shown the hard way that it will not be toelrated. So to answer your question I think they’ll continue to drink and drive until something serious happens.”