According to data released by the Austin Police Department, the issue of drunk driving throughout the city continued at approximately the same rate during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic before then increasing to a much higher rate when bars in the city reopened to the general public in the month of May.
This same data indicates that the reopening of Austin’s bars is linked to a sharp increase in drunk driving, as specifically on May 23 and May 24 of this year, which was the very first weekend after bars were officially given permission to reopen, approximately 49 individuals were arrested by the Austin Police Department on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
Throughout the previous three weekends, the total average number of arrests for DWI in the city totaled 24.667, which essentially meant that the total number of arrests ended up doubling due to many of Austin’s bars officially reopening.
A statement from the program manager of Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s Texas State Office in Austin states that the organization itself had an expectation that they would experience a drop in the total amount of DWI cases due in large part to stay-at-home orders that had been implemented in both the city of Austin and in Travis County at the time. Unfortunately, the total number of local DWI arrests ended up not decreasing, which resulted in 49 arrests occurring in a single weekend.
The statement further read as follows:
“That many DWI arrests are very surprising. That is something that we never want to see. During the pandemic, we expected the number of drunk driving arrests to decrease because fewer people were on the roads, but it did not stop. Even with the stay-at-home orders, the drunk driving continued, resulting in some horrific tragedies across our state. Our hospitals and first responders have already been overrun by the pandemic. There’s no excuse for burdening them with a crime that’s 100% preventable.”
Bars across the entire state of Texas were officially allowed to reopen at a 25% capacity via an executive order that had been signed by Governor Greg Abbott after having initially been shut down for approximately two months due to the ongoing pandemic. Despite this, videos began to circulate on various social media platforms appearing to show some of these same bars crowded with people. Additionally, Governor Abbott’s executive order also permitted restaurants across the state to increase their overall maximum capacity to 50% after having previously been at 25%.
It’s worth noting that in terms of DWI arrests, there are, on average, between approximately 5,000 and 6,000 arrests every year in the city of Austin, which is the equivalent of between 13.7 and 16.4 per day. This includes weekdays, which is when the total number of arrests are typically lower.
MADD’s Austin representative had the following to say in regards to this:
“The ultimate responsibility for those serving the alcohol is to ensure that they are serving to individuals over 21 and that they are not overserving any individuals.”
Contact Gabriella Young for any legal troubles and schedule a free consultation today!