Colorado DUI death rate rose in 2008, but 2009 looks better

Colorado was one of seven states whose death rate from drunken driving increased last year, a new federal report shows.

Nationally, death rates attributed to drunken driving decreased in 40 states and remained the same in three. Eight states and the District of Columbia managed to lower their DUI fatality rates by more than 20 percent.

But seven other states — Colorado, New Hampshire, Kansas, Wyoming, Rhode Island, Idaho and Oklahoma — showed an increase in their DUI fatality rates from 2007 to 2008.

Ronnie Brunner was one of 173 people in Colorado killed last year in what the federal report calls "alcohol-impaired crashes" in which at least one driver was drunk. He died when Jeffery Hickey, a man previously arrested seven times for drunken driving, flipped his truck on an icy highway and rolled into his path.

Is Colorado doing all it can to diminish drunken-driving deaths?

"Absolutely not," said Jamie Arthur, Brunner's sister. "This man had seven DUIs, and they were going to give him his license back. We're giving this guy seven chances to kill somebody?"

Read the full story at denverpost.com