DUI Enforcement Ops on New Year’s Eve

From Fortuna PolicePress release from Fortuna Police:

Officers from the Fortuna Police will be deploying Sunday night to stop and arrest alcohol and drug-impaired drivers. DUI Saturation Patrols will deploy on December 31st starting at 7:00 PM

High Visibility Enforcement using both DUI checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols has proven to lower the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol or drug impaired crashes. Research shows that crashes involving an impaired driver can be reduced by up to 20 percent when well-publicized proactive DUI operations are conducted routinely.

In California, alcohol involved collisions led to 1,155 deaths and nearly 24,000 injuries in 2014 because someone failed to designate a sober driver.

Officers will be looking for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment. Trained officers will be available to evaluate those suspected of drug-impaired driving, which now accounts for a growing number of impaired driving crashes.

In recent years, California has seen a disturbing increase in drug-impaired driving crashes. Fortuna Police Department supports the new effort from the Office of Traffic Safety that aims to educate all drivers that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.” If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a driving or operating machinery warning on the label, you might be impaired enough to get a DUI. Marijuana can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI.

Studies of California drivers have shown that 30 percent of drivers in fatal crashes had one or more drugs in their systems. A study of active drivers showed more tested positive for drugs that may impair driving (14 percent) than did for alcohol (7.3 percent). Of the drugs, marijuana was most prevalent, at 7.4 percent, slightly more than alcohol. Everyone should be mindful that if you’re taking medication – whether prescription or over-the-counter – drinking even small amounts of alcohol can greatly intensify the impairment affects.

Drivers are encouraged to download the Designated Driver VIP, or “DDVIP,” free mobile app for Android or iPhone. The DDVIP app helps find nearby bars and restaurants that feature free incentives for the designated sober driver, from free non-alcoholic drinks to free appetizers and more. The feature-packed app even has social media tie-ins and even a tab for the non-DD to call Uber or Lyft.

The cost of a ride home is cheap! Drivers caught driving impaired can expect the impact of a DUI arrest to include jail time, fines, fees, DUI classes, license suspensions and other expenses that can exceed $10,000 not to mention the embarrassment when friends and family find out.

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Trump Is A Traitor
Guest
Trump Is A Traitor
6 years ago

Did Dick Cheney read that?

You know George W. Bush didn’t!

Or Mark Wheatley.

Here it comes
Guest
Here it comes
6 years ago

Notice how they are increasingly trying to make smoking marijuana the equivalent of driving while under the influence of alcohol? Over and over again ever since the retired CHP officers in the state legislature introduced a bullshit bill to treat inhaling marijuana smoke in the same manner as drinking alcohol have you seen law enforcement introduce meaningless verbiage into press releases such as — “Of the drugs, marijuana was most prevalent.” You could have smoked a week before an incident and still test positive for THC in your system but that sure as hell doesn’t mean you were impaired.

EPD re-tweeted something similar following a fatal collision in the Sacramento area that killed a CHP officer, they really went hard after the “marijuana is just as bad as alcohol” and it’s going to cause a lot of people a lot of money and time to clear their names after being charged with DUI when they haven’t had a drink.

Taurus Ballzhoff
Guest
Taurus Ballzhoff
6 years ago

PLEASE don’t get AFU before you drive!

Local and state LEO’s could fill every bed in every jail every night, practically everywhere North of the Golden Gate, with totally impaired drivers!

Be careful, watch those other drivers!

Be safe, get home alive, get a sober driver, take an Uber, stay in a motel!

Happy 2018!

Glad2BGone
Guest
Glad2BGone
6 years ago

I guess somebody just don’t understand
“ DUI doesn’t mean just booze”. How about “ For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction “?

HOGRANCH
Guest
6 years ago

DRINK ALL YOU CAN HOLD, AN KEEP ON PUFFIN. LIFE IS TO SHORT TO LET ANYBODY TELL YOU WHEN YOU HAVE HIT THE LIMIT! IF YOU STAY OFF THE ROAD YOU WILL PROBABLY STAY OUT OF THE CONFINES OF JAIL.

Trump Is A Traitor
Guest
Trump Is A Traitor
6 years ago

I stopped at a light on Broadway in Eureka a couple of years ago, and this guy (with short hair & a baseball cap) pulled up alongside me in his truck, and immediately pulled out a small bong and started toking while stopped. I thought that was pretty brazen. Maybe if he had used a pipe instead of a bong, I might have been somewhat less offended.

Guest
Guest
Guest
6 years ago

Hahahaha!

Life is Good
Guest
Life is Good
6 years ago

Don’t let them fool you. On Christmas Eve I drove from Ukiah to Eureka and didn’t see one CHP unit on 101. I saw a Humboldt Sheriff car in Scotia. That’s not what I call ramped up enforcement.

Veterans Friend
Guest
Veterans Friend
6 years ago

The law has a long way to go to catch up with reality. Cannabis is not equivalent to alcohol.

Biscuit
Guest
Biscuit
6 years ago

Are you kidding me? Marijuana is as bad if not worse than alcohol while driving. Marijuana causes delayed reaction time.

local observer
Guest
local observer
6 years ago
Reply to  Biscuit

maybe if its your first time smoking it, then yes. otherwise it doesn’t even come close. and this is from someone who got a DWI while blacked out from alcohol consumption. I was told I lost the cruiser due to the amount of unplowed snow, but he followed my tracks. I was also told I never shifted out of first gear.

Citizen on patrol
Guest
Citizen on patrol
6 years ago
Reply to  local observer

It’s supposed to be medicine right? Then why the heck would u take medication and get behind the wheel? I’m all for marijuana just not driving and consuming it

local observer
Guest
local observer
6 years ago

is it? have you ever consumed it? I consider alcohol a hard drug, but I don’t consider weed. it wears off quickly, like within an hour, unless its edibles then it is a couple of hours. I have a 2 drink max when out and a 4 drink max if home, because alcohol is that dangerous for others and yourself. it is literally toxic to your body.

Meow
Guest
Meow
6 years ago
Reply to  local observer

You just proved his point. You feel impaired after smoking marijuana. Marijuana users need to be safe and smoke at home

Freedom Club
Guest
Freedom Club
6 years ago
Reply to  Biscuit

I will take a stoned driver over a drunk driver on road 100% of the time. Hell I’ll gladly take a stoned driver on the road with me over the person constantly texting while driving. Ideally people would only drive while able to do so safely, but from my experience alcohol impairs much much much more than cannabis does.

Trump Is A Traitor
Guest
Trump Is A Traitor
6 years ago

Cannabis is clearly far superior to alcohol on multiple levels.

January 1st is the real party, instead of New Years Eve this year!

Mucho tax dollars is muy bueno.

Antichrist
Guest
Antichrist
6 years ago

It is wrong for them to list numbers like this as they arent as true as they want you to believe, if looked at percentage wise, the numbers are something like 5 percent of accidents involve drugs in total. Hardly worth all the extra man hours let alone overtime, not to mention the tramping of civil rights they use for these check points. Infact during check points they write more tickets for vehicial and non dui or drug infractuons then duis or drugs. It is nothing other than a pr stunt to sway public opions to support their extortions.

Pooh daddy
Guest
Pooh daddy
6 years ago

30% of fatal crashes involve drug impairment. Sounds like 70% of fatal crashes involve sober drivers. So you are less likely to be involved in a fatal crash if you are impaired. Maybe we shouldn’t drive sober? It’s TOO dangerous!

Trump Is A Traitor
Guest
Trump Is A Traitor
6 years ago
Reply to  Pooh daddy

Since you went there, I’ve been friends with a couple of people over the years with diagnosed ADHD who insisted to me that they drive better after smoking, because it relaxes them and helps them to focus on the road. Marijuana affects different individuals differently, depending on tolerance, etc. Which is why there is still no reliable road test for impaired driving as a result of THC intoxication. A blood test is the only reliable measure still. 💉

Citizen on patrol
Guest
Citizen on patrol
6 years ago

Washington state does Dui blood draws for those showing signs of drug impairment and its coming soon to Cali. People smoke marijuana to get high. People drink to get a buzz or get drunk. I don’t understand why marijuana users think it’s ok to get behind the wheel of a vehicle and put someone else’s life in danger.

Trump Is A Traitor
Guest
Trump Is A Traitor
6 years ago

Your assumption that all people who smoke marijuana are impaired drivers is of course incorrect. There is a blood alcohol standard, for instance, whereby you are determined to be impaired if your blood alcohol level is over the limit. Unlike alcohol, THC remains in your system in your fat deposits for approximately a month. Just because you smoked a joint yesterday does not in any way impair your ability to drive today. However, THC will be detected in your blood. It is much easier to make an intoxication determination for alcohol and narcotics. The THC intoxication determination really should be done by way of a road test simulator, having you pretend to drive to actually see if your reflexes and judgement are impaired. Maybe they can develop a van with a driving simulator in the back?