Only in Wisconsin could lawmakers pat themselves on the back for passing a bill that leaves the state among the most lenient in the nation when it comes to drunken driving.

Truth be told, the unanimous vote Thursday in the Assembly was a resounding victory for Wisconsin's Tavern League and the makers of interlock ignition devices.

First-time drunken driving remains a traffic violation. While Wisconsin would leave North Dakota as the lone state to wait until the fifth drunken driving offense before making the

charge a felony, don't get the

idea Wisconsin is really

cracking down on impaired drivers: If you can manage to avoid the cops for five years after your third drunken driving offense, your fourth will still be a misdemeanor.

While the legislation takes a crack at addressing the underlying issue - Wisconsin's culture of alcohol abuse - by encouraging treatment for second- and third-time offenders, the slight ramping up of penalties is unlikely to send any real message to a state in which too many people habitually drive with blood-alcohol concentrations above the legal limit of

0.8 percent.

That one member of the Assembly called it the most significant drunken driving reform in a decade speaks only to how little the Wisconsin Legislature has done to give police and prosecutors the tools they need to make a dent in one of our most pressing health and safety problems.

In 2008, 41 percent of the state's traffic deaths were alcohol-related - significantly above the national average - according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The message to law enforcement is this: We want you to continue to catch drunken drivers not once ... not twice ... not three times ... but rather four times before we'll consider an offense that led to 208 deaths last year a felony.

And what is the message to victims of drunken driving?

The incredible hold the culture of alcohol has on Wisconsin has led to sadly diminished expectations for some victims. The Assembly's paltry steps to toughen the law drew a small expression of gratitude from a Mequon woman who lost a granddaughter and pregnant daughter to a repeat drunken driver.

"Baby steps are what's being done," Judy Jenkins said, "... and it's going to take a long time to inch forward."

Similar legislation in the Senate will no doubt pass easily if not unanimously, the governor will sign the bill into law, and all will tout themselves warriors against drunken driving - on the merits of a bill that only marginally increases the severity of penalties for drunken driving in one the most lenient states in the nation.

What's that about?