Have we reached the point where we can’t reduce the number of DUIs?
A reporter asks, “Despite the efforts of law enforcement, the number [of DUIs] has not significantly dropped….Have we hit a point where we can’t further reduce the number of people killed in drunken-driving accidents?”
In researching my book on identifying DUIs before they become tragically obvious (“Get Out of the Way! How to Identify and Avoid a Driver Under the Influence”), I learned of a study proving that for every traffic violator who was under the influence and arrested for DUI, almost four were let back on the road. I realized that cops are no more capable of identifying the highly-functional early-stage alcoholic at a .15 per cent BAL than bartenders are, or anyone else. Such alcoholics just don’t appear inebriated.
I proposed that every traffic violator be tested with a non-intrusive eye test called “horizontal gaze nystagmus” that any trained officer can administer in about a minute and determine the blood alcohol level within .02 per cent. Unfortunately, society just isn’t willing to require that officers be so trained and society isn’t willing to see traffic violators tested in this way, even though it’s so simple and could save so many lives.
So yes, with the current state of unwillingness and lack of education about early-stage alcoholism, we’ve likely hit that point.