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Masako Saenz didn’t just lose her 5-year-old son to a repeat drunk driver. Two decades later, the Sacramento mother lost her own life after being hit by a driver with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit.

Robert Lewis

Lauren Hepler

CalMatters

Her story is one of thousands that illustrate a stark — and deadly — reversal in how the state handles DUIs.

California was the birthplace of the modern movement against drunk driving in the 1980s. But over the past decade, alcohol-related roadway deaths have shot up by more than 50% — an increase more than twice as steep as the rest of the country, federal estimates show.

To understand why so many people are once again dying in fatal DUI crashes, we review

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