For several months, Loretta Focht made the drive periodically from her home in Gibraltar, Mich., to Lansing, hoping it would be worth her while.
Legislation passed by the Senate last week with her help proved to her that it was - and that the drive will be safer in the future.
Focht’s son, 21-year-old Brian Slebodnick, was killed in a hit-and-run accident April 13, 2000. The driver, who investigators believe was drunk at the time of the accident, left the scene and later served less than a year in jail for the hit-and-run. If he remained at the scene, he might have served as many as 15 years in jail for drunken driving.
The legislation increases the penalty for leaving the scene of a fatal accident to a maximum 15-year felony and $10,000 fine.
“I’ve been watching the news and clipping articles,” Focht said. “I have a whole album of hit-and-runs. I couldn’t live my life knowing that what happened to my son was going to happen to another.”
State Sen. Loren Bennett said he was proud to sponsor “Brian’s Law,” with hopes that it will serve as a preventative measure. The penalty, he says, isn’t worth running away from.
“Quite frankly, who could be opposed to this?” the Canton Republican said. “I do not think that people will be more aware. It will simply be one less tool that lawyers will have to get their clients out of responsibility for what they’ve done.”
Bennett said the legislation, which is waiting for a signature from Gov. John Engler, mirrored penalties already in place for drunken driving.
“At some point somebody decided it was a good idea to toughen drunk driving laws, but the traffic code was so massive, nobody thought there could be a problem until there already was,” he said.
Another step toward prevention was announced Monday with Michigan receiving $2.1 million from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
East Lansing police Lt. Kim Johnson said the money is likely to have an impact everywhere in the state - even in areas that don’t have an extra 70,000 people in the area for sporting events and move-ins.
The city had 353 drunken driving arrests in 1999 and 332 in 2000. MSU had 146 drunken driving arrests in 1999 and 104 in 2000.
“We’ll be able to put our heads together and figure out what the best way to spend that money is,” Johnson said. “Drunken driving is a problem nationwide.”
Focht, who is a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said improvements to the law and prevention money help her cope with her son’s death, although nothing seems to take the pain away.
“I never would have dreamed in a million years that I would be involved in this, but I was determined not to give up,” she said.
