Which is, for starters, your brother-in-law needs to quit drinking. The frequency of these incidents proves to me he's an alcoholic, and one who drives while impaired frequently. To paraphrase Chekhov's famous theatrical maxim ("Chekhov's Gun"), he's a loaded gun on the stage, and he's going to get fired, before the play ends. Well, he's already been fired from his job, and by his best friend, but the next explosion you hear could well be this idiot smashing into an innocent victim while loaded.
Some good stats on the costs associated with drunk driving:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/people/injury/alcohol/impaired_driving_pg2/MI.htm
There is some gray area in the definition of "driving," and thus there would be some discretion available to the presiding judge. In general, if you are behind the wheel, and the car is running, you are driving. If you're curled up in the backseat, you would not be driving, even if the engine is on.
I looked up the penalties for the states at findlaw.com, and Michigan's are more stringent than either TX or MD. MADD has been very busy here, and with good reason. I remember Michigan used to have one of the worst records in the country, in this category.