A judge teams up with mental health, probation to create an alternative court for drunk drivers.

The point of issuing DUIs isn’t to irritate drivers; it’s to make streets safer. But often citations accomplish only the former of those goals, and Monterey County Superior Court Judge Sam Lavorato wants to change that.

He hopes to help launch a local DUI court this year with grant funding from the California Office of Traffic Safety. Court officials expect to hear back on a pending grant application, for $368,427, by June.

Modeled on drug court, which allows addicts to go through a rigorous program in lieu of doing jail or prison time, DUI court started in Southern California a decade ago. Defendants submit to regular drug and alcohol testing, and enroll in programs like Alcoholics Anonymous.

Lavorato presides over drug court and views alternative courts like this as a good incentive for recovery. “[Defendants] get to be better,” he says. “They’re able to get their families and jobs back.”

A recent high-profile DUI case ended with a tearful sentencing April 1, when Stuart Elder, a Pacific Grove builder, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for killing Sharon Daly and Linda LaRone and injuring his passenger in a high-speed collision in Pebble Beach.

Established DUI courts, like one in Orange County, accept defendants who are generally second – or third-time misdemeanor offenders who, unlike Elder, haven’t injured anyone in a crash. While his driving record was spotty, Elder didn’t have any previous DUIs.

Like drug court, a DUI court would use a team approach, in which probation officers and addiction counselors report to the judge on a defendant’s progress.