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When Pennsylvania toughened its drunken driving law just over a year ago, both drivers and tavern owners feared that drinkers who had barely crossed the "legal limit" would be most affected by the change.

It didn't happen.

Statistics for the law's first 11 months -- from Feb. 1, 2004, to the end of that year -- show that more than half of those charged with drunken driving had a blood-alcohol content of 0.16 percent or higher, twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent.

"I'm shocked. Clearly, we have far more high-risk drivers on the roads that I previously thought," said Rebecca Shaver, executive director of the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD.

An analysis of statistics from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts shows that in the law's first 11 months on the books, more than 56 percent of motorists charged with drunken driving had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.16 percent or higher.

"It's disheartening," said John Peck, district attorney for Westmoreland County. "I review all the DUI cases each week. I have 10 of them sitting on my desk right now, and most of them are over 0.2 (percent)."

Under the 2004 law, it's easier for prosecutors to gain a conviction. They no longer must show that a defendant was drunk when he drove, just that the motorist's blood-alcohol content was 0.08 or higher within two hours of driving.

Penalties are more severe for the most intoxicated drivers, too. Fines have been increased, offenders may spend more time in jail and drivers convicted of a second offense must pay to equip their cars with interlock devices that check their sobriety before they can start the engines.

The law's language, for the first time, makes it possible to count specifically the number of drunken drivers arrested, and to determine their level of intoxication. Previously, drunken drivers were charged under the same statute as motorists who were under the influence of drugs or who refused to submit to a blood test.

When the law was strengthened in 2004, the state Legislature enacted a three-tier penalty system based on the concentration of alcohol found in a driver's bloodstream. Offenders in the first tier have a blood-alcohol content above 0.08 percent but less than 0.1 percent, the old legal limit for drivers.

Second-tier offenders have a BAC of 0.1 percent or higher, but less than 0.16 percent. The third tier -- the most intoxicated drivers -- have blood-alcohol readings of 0.16 or higher.

Statistics show that 40,294 cases were initiated against drunken drivers across the state during the 11-month span. Of those, 22,609 drivers, more than 56 percent, fell into the third tier.

About one-third of the cases -- 13,363, or 33 percent -- were second-tier offenses. About 11 percent, or 4,322 cases, involved the least inebriated, first-tier drivers.

The statistics worry Shaver.

"High-risk drivers are the ones most likely to kill people on the roads, so this is serious," she said.

Nancy Oppedal, of Hanover, York County, speaks to drivers and community groups as a MADD volunteer. Her husband and two children were killed in a crash with a drunken driver in 1989.

"Whenever I talk to first offenders," she said, "I try and make them realize not only the criminal and financial consequences they face, but I ask them how will they deal with living, knowing what they are responsible for" if they cause a serious crash.

The nonprofit Century Council, a Washington D.C.-based organization dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking, analyzed National Transportation Safety Board data to determine the impact of drunken drivers. In 2003, the council found, 58 percent of alcohol-related traffic fatalities involved drivers with a blood-alcohol content of 0.15 or more.

In Pennsylvania, according to the council, 60 percent of drivers involved in alcohol-related traffic fatalities have a blood-alcohol reading of 0.15 or higher.

The council started its National Hardcore Drunk Driver project to track the most inebriated drivers and formulate strategies for reducing their rate of drinking and driving. Maureen Dalbec, the council's director of research, said the percentage of highly intoxicated drivers has held steady in recent years, despite improved education efforts and tougher laws.

In Pennsylvania, heavy drinkers remain a continuing concern.

"We get some people at checkpoints at 0.2, 0.25 and 0.3 (percent BAC)," said Mt. Lebanon police Chief Tom Ogden, whose department administers the South Hills DUI Task Force in Allegheny County. "It's amazing that they can get behind the wheel at all at that level, so yeah, that rings true here."

"You see very few (offenders) at the 0.08 level," said Fayette County Judge Ralph Warman. "You usually find there is someone who maybe went to a party and had too much to drink, and they were feeling the effects -- unlike a habitual drinker."

The statistics provided by the Pennsylvania courts don't show how many cases involve first-time violators versus repeat offenders, but Shaver said the data illustrate how difficult it is to curb drunken driving.

"These (highly inebriated) people are the most resistant to treatment and the most likely to drive without a license," she said.

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