From the
Washington Traffic Safety Commission:
Participating in this summer’s Drive Hammered, Get Nailed enforcement campaign are the Shelton and Squaxin Island Police Departments, the Mason County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Patrol, with the support of the Mason County Target Zero Traffic Safety Task Force.
There are numerous myths surrounding impaired driving, chief of which is that one must have consumed alcohol in order to be arrested for DUI. Drivers can become impaired by the use of illegal, prescription, and even over-the-counter drugs, or some combination of these, with or without the presence of alcohol.
OTHER MYTHS ABOUT IMPAIRED DRIVING:
FALSE: You can sober up quickly by drinking coffee, taking a cold shower or consuming an energy drink. TRUTH: Only time will sober you up. It typically takes about one hour for each drink that has been consumed.
FALSE: It’s OK to drive impaired if you are only going a short distance. TRUTH: It is never safe to drive under the influence.
FALSE: My doctor wouldn’t have prescribed the medicine if it wasn’t safe to drive while taking it. TRUTH: Prescription medications can impair you. If the bottle indicates that it is not safe to operate heavy machinery, you should not drive after taking that medication.
FALSE: I can’t be arrested for DUI if I am under a .08. TRUTH: You can be arrested for DUI if your ability to drive is affected by any substance, regardless of your blood alcohol content (BAC).
All of these and many more myths are untrue, yet recognizing and identifying the source of impairment can be complicated.
Today, there is a statewide network of specially trained law enforcement officers able to identify drivers who are under the influence of illegal, prescription, and/or over-the-counter drugs. They are called
Drug Recognition Experts (DRE) and they are trained extensively about the differing effects of drugs and/or alcohol on the body.
DRE Trooper Matt Wood, WSP Shelton detachment, says that one of the most common stories he hears from people he stops is that they were “drugged.” He knows it does occur but that most often he finds the drug with the driver. An example was a driver who was impaired on methamphetamine (meth). She crossed the centerline and struck a vehicle head on. She claimed that someone had given her a soda that did not taste right but she drank it anyway. Multiple bags of meth were found in her vehicle and in her shirt. She said she had not used any of the meth but was keeping it for someone else, but her blood results came back positive for meth. She was convicted of vehicular assault for injuries to the driver she hit.
In Washington State, the DRE program and toxicology testing are resulting in better identification of the effects of drugs on drivers. Between 1998 and 2007, drug-involved traffic deaths increased by 150 percent. During this time, the number of deceased drivers tested for drugs increased by 60 percent.
It is also important to emphasize that any law enforcement officer can arrest a driver suspected of DUI.
Impaired driving is the leading cause of traffic deaths in Washington. Last year, impaired drivers contributed to the deaths of nearly half of the 522 people who died on Washington’s roadways. The 233 impaired driver-involved deaths in 2008 represent a decrease of 40 fatalities compared to the previous five-year average.
Nationally, there were almost 13,000 people killed by impaired drivers during 2007. Those preventable deaths represent an average of one person being killed every 40 minutes in the United States.