A recommendation by the Governor’s Panel on Drinking and Driving that recommended stiffer penalties for drunk drivers and tightening the legal definition of drunkenness should get serious attention by the state’s legislators. Alcohol-related accidents are unusually gruesome. Large numbers of drinking drivers involved in accidents either kill themselves or someone else. In 1981, more than 60 percent of the drivers involved in alcohol-related accidents in Utah were fatally injured themselves. During the same period, more than 41 percent of drivers who were involved in an accident that killed someone had been drinking. Drivers who had been drinking were involved in only eight percent of the the state’s 43,562 accidents last year, but drinking related accidents were more likely to cause a death or injury than any other kind of accident, Most of the auto accidents in the state were caused by sloppy driving by supposedly alert drivers, Improper lookout, failure to yield right-ofway, and speeding all caused more accidents than alcohol did. But people were less likely to be killed or injured in those accidents than they were when drink was involved. The governor’s panel made the following recommendations: – drunken drivers who kill or cause permanent disability to another should receive up to 15 years in jail and a $10,000 fine, – lower the legal definition for drunkenness from a .08 percent blood alcohol level to .05, – remove the legal presumption that a person’s reactions are not impaired with less than .05 percent blood alcohol. – a possible one year jail term and $10,000 fine for drunken driving with a a five-times escalator if the driver causes an injury while drunk. – allow police officers to confiscate a driving permit at time of arrest and issue a 20-day temporary license. – adding a separate offense to the books for a $1,000 fine and a one year in jail for driving after a driving under the influence license revocation. The commission recommended abolishing the much abused restricted licenses and reducing the law’s mandatory year license revocation to 90 days. The commission indicated it believed the year is too severe and it encourages drivers to drive without a license rather than find alternate transportation during the suspension. Finally, the group recommended that the state should pick up the tab for the Alcohol Safety Action Program that was cur-tailed when federal support was withdrawn. The program provides extra money to run highway roadblocks, education campaigns and monitoring of bars. The panel’s ideas appear to be sound and worthy of serious consideration by the state’s lawmakers. The Herald recommends that immediate study should be made by the legislature’s interim committees so that when legislators meet in January, they can be ready to act.