Throughout the country police officers are being injured because impaired drivers are crashing into their patrol units while they are working on the side of the road. Yes, I know there is a move over law, but there is also a law that deals with driving impaired, and neither one seems to be much of a solution.
Something has to change.
Early in my career I was assigned to the midnight shift, and noticed there had been no arrests made by anyone on the shift since I showed up to the shift as the FNG. Within the first hour of my patrol patrol shift, I spotted, stopped, and arrested an impaired driver. The blood alcohol concentration was 0.14. I completed the documentation and before leaving the station, communications advised me to meet the Lieutenant at Denny’s.
While I looked forward to a pat on the back for taking a drunk driver off the street, his facial expression did not match my expectation. He told me to “sit down” and he said “Boy, we don’t arrest drunk drivers here on the midnight shift. That is not your job. I expect you to patrol the commercial district and keep thieves from burglarizing and stealing from the store owners of our community.”
As I look back on my four decades of law enforcement, so many things have changed and not for the better. When I began, if a police officer said you were impaired, then that’s how it was. In the mid 80’s if a police officer said you were impaired, and there was a chemical test to prove it, then the driver was prosecuted. By the early 90’s, testimony of a police officer, a chemical test, and a video showing the actions of a drunk, not impaired, driver were required for the courts to prosecute.
Then there was Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), a group hat thas done so much in the impaired driving arena. MADD and other activists pushed for legislation to suspend driver license, obtain a warrant for a chemical test for drivers who refuse initially to provide a specimen. While all those legislative actions seemed to be good on the surface, with passage of each new initiative, massive amounts of paperwork to an already document overload process were added to the arrest and booking process. With public service warnings, news reports of the destruction caused, the cost of being charged with impaired driving, these things on the surface would make one believe it would not be a good idea to drive impaired.
But here we are.
Due to the amount of paperwork required to process an impaired driver, many police officers are reluctant to stop and arrest. Society views impaired driving as a victimless crime. However,with more than 10,000 fatal crashes attributed to impaired driving, it is hard to understand the concept of victimless.
The problem as I see it!
America has a lack of concern for impaired drivers unless they affect them personally. Besides alcohol is a cash cow for Americans. Just look at the Super Bowl commercials that cost more than one million dollars for a 30 second spot.
Impaired driving crashes are completely preventable. In a society that refuses to take responsibility for anything, impaired drivers are just another pawn. If America was serious about ENDING impaired driving, we could do so by seizing the automobile the suspect arrested was driving and selling it at auction. If there is a lean on the vehicle, the driver would be responsible for the remainder of the loan. This tactic would eliminate repeat offenders much quicker than a driver license suspension. If a person has transportation, and they are out getting their drink on, they could care less if their license is suspended.
But seizing their car?
Call me crazy, but drunk driving would come to a screeching halt. We would have an increase in drunk “passengers” but I’m fine with that!
Ride shares and designated drivers would become the norm, and fewer of our brothers and sisters would be struck and injured by impaired drivers.
It’s Time
Law enforcement needs to aggressively target impaired drivers and not just on overtime. Impaired drivers are on the road all hours of the day and night. The highest concentration is between 3-6 AM with 55% of the drivers being impaired. Weekday happy hour (6-midnight) accounts for approximately 25 to 35% of drivers being impaired.
Most overtime enforcement focuses on midnight to 6AM, but there are impaired drivers out during rush hour.
The hesitation for police officers to engage impaired drivers originates from the shift supervisors. If (like my previous supervisor) instructed to overlook impaired driving behavior due to manpower issues that prevent an officer to be tied up with the mountains of paperwork, prosecutors will just plead it down and the impaired driver will be back on the street before the officer completes the required documentation, and so on. The hesitations listed above may be valid, but we took an oath to protect our communities, even from impaired drivers.
For those not willing to engage in impaired driving enforcement, just remember your brothers and sisters working the street with you.
Always remember “They may beat the rap, but they won’t beat the ride!”
Until next time, keep the dirty side down, your head on a swivel and keep your brothers and sisters in mind before you allow an impaired driver to stay on the road.
