You. Safer. Drunk Drivers Off the Road. I Know How.

South Carolina has long led the nation in drunk-driving deaths. 

For years, weak enforcement and courtroom loopholes let too many drunk drivers walk. 

The laws on the books were never the whole problem — the will to enforce them was.

THIS MUST STOP.

 South Carolina has the worst drunk-driving fatality rate in the United States — roughly 6.9 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to NHTSA federal crash data. Our alcohol-impaired fatality rate is nearly double the national average, and alcohol is a factor in 43% of our traffic deaths — among the highest shares in the country. Hundreds of South Carolinians die in alcohol-related crashes every year.

For years, the system failed YOU and your safety. DUI charges were too often plea-bargained down to "reckless driving" — because it's easier than taking them to trial. Cases were tossed over videotaping technicalities. Too few drunk drivers ever saw a jail cell. Repeat offenders kept their keys. And people kept dying.

Right now, lawmakers are finally moving to fix this (S.52) — and I hope it becomes law.

But here's the truth: even the best law on paper is only as strong as the will to enforce it. The new bill still leaves the charging decisions, the plea deals, and the dismissals in the hands of prosecutors. A law doesn't convict a drunk driver — a prosecutor does. Making sure that happens — consistently, in every county — is where the Attorney General comes in.

It hits your wallet, too. When drunk drivers stay on the road, everyone's auto insurance climbs — and South Carolina's liquor-liability insurance market is in crisis, with bars and restaurants struggling to get coverage. Strict enforcement — of the laws we have and the new ones coming — will make us all safer, and better off financially.

SOLUTIONS FOR YOU:

• Use the office's convening power to bring solicitors together around tougher, consistent DUI standards — and publicly track and report all plea and conviction rates, along with sentences, so you can see which circuits are letting drunk drivers walk.
• Work with the legislature, the courts, and judges on recommended sentencing guidelines, so there's consistent punishment and real change.
• Provide model policies, training, and resources to help solicitors and law enforcement win their DUI cases under the law, instead of being forced to plea. Teaching law is what I do.

I WILL GET DRUNK DRIVERS OFF OUR ROADS.

For your safety, I will use every tool of this office to see that our DUI laws are strictly enforced.

Sources: NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS); NHTSA, "State Alcohol-Impaired-Driving Estimates: 2022 Data"; FITSNews, "South Carolina Leads the Nation in Drunk Driving Fatalities" (Feb. 12, 2026).