impaired driving – The Wise Drive

February 2, 2023February 6, 2023

Moving to .05 to Prevent Impaired Driving

Unless this is the only news(ish) article you read each week, you’ve likely at least seen a headline about the bill that would lower our state’s impaired driving per se Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) level to .05. This is such an obviously good idea that no one could possibly disagree (he says with misplaced confidence.) Before we go any further, I’ll state my bias – as you might guess, I’m inclined to support things that increase the safety of all road users.

We all have our biases, and not everyone shares mine, so let’s start with something we can all agree on. Too many people are killed in impaired driving crashes in our state. Over half of all traffic fatalities in Washington involve impairment and 32 percent of those involve alcohol. No matter what your political persuasion, that’s unacceptable. We’re seeing this now in Washington’s legislature with bipartisan agreement that something needs to be done to reverse the current trend of increasing traffic fatalities.

August 11, 2022August 10, 2022

Impairment and the Mellanby Effect

Q: I’ve seen “plan ahead” messages to prevent impaired driving. They suggest having a designated driver, calling a cab, or letting someone sleep on your couch, which are all good, but might not be an option. Why don’t they suggest sleeping it off in your car?

A: I have an additional question that I think can get us to an answer: How much do you trust drunk you? Of if this doesn’t apply specifically to you, how much do you trust an impaired person to make a sound decision? If after drinking alcohol or consuming other drugs a person truly only had the option of either sleeping in their car or driving home, sleeping it off in their car is clearly the better choice. But that doesn’t make it a good choice (or a legal one).

August 12, 2021September 1, 2021

Comparing Washington to the World – Impaired Driving

Q: I’m wondering how other states compare to Washington regarding how much alcohol you’re allowed to consume and still drive. Isn’t there a state or two that has zero tolerance? I know some countries also have zero tolerance. I wonder if the law allowing up to .08 BAC or 5 ng/mL for cannabis gives people the idea that driving with some substances is okay, or that we are “safe” within those limits. Why isn’t Washington’s BAC limit lower?

A: Your question brings up a misperception that I see repeatedly; the idea that it’s okay to drive as long as your Blood Alcohol Level (BAC) is lower than .08. I’ll get to the comparisons you asked about in a moment, but if there’s one thing I want people to take away from reading this, it’s that you can be impaired (and get arrested for impaired driving) well below the per se limit of .08.

December 10, 2020December 14, 2020

Getting a DUI for Talking on Your Phone?

Q: Is it true you can get a DUI for texting or talking on your phone while driving? I’ve heard that people have gotten arrested for it, and that doesn’t seem right.

A: In 2017 Washington legislators overhauled our distracted driving law which, despite being only being ten years old, was already obsolete. Actually, it was obsolete within weeks of being passed. Back in 2007, when our first distracted driving law was written, it prohibited holding the phone to your ear to talk and sending text messages. That seemed reasonable at the time because the only thing you could do with a cell phone was call and text. That all changed with the launch of the iPhone, which came out in, you guessed it, 2007.

August 20, 2020August 20, 2020

Five Ways to Be (Very) Wrong About Driving

Q: I got pulled over because I didn’t dim my headlights at night. All I did was flash my headlights because I thought the oncoming headlights were way too bright. I wasn’t driving with my high beams on. I feel it’s bull***t. I was charged with failure to dim my lights, driving on a revoked license and DUI. Was I driving DUI? Yes. I just don’t feel they had probable cause to pull me over. Never seen me driving drunk or nothing. Please help.

A. You’re not going to like this. –long pause– Now that I’ve taken a few deep breaths, I’m going to dial my response back a bit so this is still publishable. Here we go: You’re wrong. You were wrong when you drove with a revoked license. You were wrong to get in the driver’s seat while impaired. You’re wrong about the officer’s probable cause. You’re wrong about the officer not seeing you driving impaired. The only thing you’re right about is that you need help. But I suspect you weren’t asking for that kind of help so you’re wrong there too.

August 6, 2020August 6, 2020

DUI Vs. DWI – A Brief History

Q: I hear people some people say DUI and some people say DWI. What’s the difference? Are they two different crimes or is it just two different ways of saying the same thing?

A: If you’re older than a millennial I bet you’ve found yourself puzzled by the perpetual shortening of common words. Hearing “totes cray” just sounds totally crazy. But this sort of thing has been going on for decades (or centuries; Chaucer was doing this in the 1300s). For example, back when the GenX crowd talked about DWI, in an effort to save three syllables we pronounced it DeeWee.

December 8, 2019December 6, 2019

Friends Let Friends Crash on the Couch

In your lifetime you’ve probably heard “the man” tell you not to do a lot of things. Don’t litter, don’t talk during the movie, don’t feed the wildlife, don’t play with matches; you can come up with more, I’m sure. Yes, it’s all sound advice, but the best part of life isn’t in the not doing, but the doing. At most, the “don’t” messages are good but incomplete.

Around the holidays the message is often “don’t drink and drive” or “don’t drive high.” There’s a solid reason for that message; in Washington about half of all traffic fatalities involve an impaired driver, even though most people don’t do it. Possibly the most famous of the impairment “don’t” messages has been “Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” Almost everyone agrees with that (as you’ll soon see in the data). But what does it look like to not do something? If we don’t let our friends drive impaired, what is it that we are doing?