Tens of thousands of people in Maine have been convicted of OUI multiple times without having their licenses permanently revoked.
Data from the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles, going back to 1980, indicate almost 50,000 drivers in Maine have 2 OUI convictions, almost 4,000 have 5 and one person has 18. Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap says Maine doesn’t have permanent license revocations, although it’s something that he would support in the case of some chronic offenders.
“that’s the kind of person I think that the disincentives — you know, the fines, the jail time, the suspensions — are utterly meaningless to, so those are the people that, if you’re going to take away someone’s license, either permanently or for some expanded, long period of time, those are the people you want to direct it at,” he says.
Dunlap says multiple offenders with 3, 4 and more convictions have chronic chemical dependency issues. He says, out of 1 million drivers in Maine, 90 percent never get an OUI and, of those who do, most have only one conviction and will never get another one.
