Utah, and indeed all states, have the same problem with repeat drunken drivers: How to keep them off the road. Suspending their driver licenses doesn't necessarily work because many chronic offenders just keep driving anyway.
But Utah lawmakers ought to take a careful look at a system that originated in Minnesota and was adopted in Iowa a year ago. It gives police an easy way to identify the auto of a person who has been convicted at least three times of drunken driving.The system involves issuing a special license plate to such offenders.
The Minnesota and Iowa laws are similar. After a third DUI conviction, not only is the driver's license suspended, but the license plates of the offender's car are confiscated, effectively making it impossible to use the auto.
However, if there are family members who need to use the car, special license plates may be obtained. In Iowa, the plates begin with the letter Z. In Minnesota, the letters are XW.
Unlike the 17th-century adulterers in Nathanial Hawthorne's novel who were forced to wear the scarlet letter A on their clothing, the license plate letters do not stand for any particular word. They are just a device to alert police.
Under the law in both states, police officers may stop cars with the special plates without cause just to make sure the person driving is not the one with the suspended driver's license.
This approach has much to recommend it. First, it is more effective at getting convicted DUI offenders off the road than just suspending a driver's license; it gives police a way to check on cheaters. Second, it doesn't deprive innocent family members of the use of the family car, although it increases their chances of being pulled over by police. Third, it ought to make inebriated motorists think twice about getting behind the wheel.
Some civil liberties advocates are unhappy with the Minnesota and Iowa laws, but on balance, the measures put the thumb on the guilty, allow police to keep track of possible cheaters and don't infringe in any serious way on the rights of others.
Utah lawmakers should give the idea thorough scrutiny.