LANSING, MI (AP) -- State officials say a new law taking effect Sunday in Michigan is aimed at first-time offenders who get behind the wheel after drinking excessively.
The Lansing State Journal reports that the new so-called "super-drunk" law is intended to reduce the roughly 45,000 drunken driving arrests Michigan sees each year.
One provision creates a new class of blood-alcohol content of 0.17 percent or higher for serious first-time offenders. That's about twice the minimum of 0.08 percent now required for a drunken driving conviction.
Those convicted of the higher blood-alcohol level will get an automatic one year driver's license suspension and up to 180 days in jail.
Republican State Sen. Alan Cropsey of DeWitt says people who get "super-drunk" are "exceptionally dangerous" drivers.
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