Safe driving requires full attention

A nice Opinion piece appeared the Tennessean today. It was written by Cpl. Tyler Chandler of the Mount Juliet Police Department and concerns texting and other driving distractions. Read it at:
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110202/OPINION03/102020398/-1/RSS0201/Safe-driving-requires-full-attention

DUI Treatment Court Newsletter

The DWI Court reporter, which is published by the National Center For DWI Courts, is available on our website or by hitting this link:
http://dui.tndagc.org/resources/The DWI Court Reporter - January.pdf

The newsletter focuses on treatment Courts and includes articles about innovations in treatment courts, legislation and outcomes.

Alcoa class

Essential to all law enforcement success in the field of DUI is the DUI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Test class. Today in Alcoa law enforcement officers are participating in such a class. This video shows officers in the midst of writing a report or taking a quiz. Officers are challenged concerning their knowledge every time they go to Court. Thank them sometime for their effort on the street and in the classroom.

Walking may be hazardous in Tennessee

In January we lost 50 people in traffic fatalities. 9 of them were pedestrians. That is 18% of our fatalities! No wonder treadmills in gyms are so popular!

NHTSA Reports on Drug Involvement in fatal crashes

Drug Involvement of Fatally Injured Drivers – The issue of Traffic Safety Facts, developed by NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis, presents drug test results for fatally injured drivers from 2005 – 2009. It shows that there was an increase in the percentage of fatally injured drivers (who were tested and whose results were known) who tested positive for drugs. According to the report, 63 percent of the 21,798 drivers who were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2009 were tested for drugs. Of these, 3,952 tested positive for drug involvement, representing 18 percent of the total for that year. The report also showed the presence of drugs reported by the states among fatally injured drivers increasing from 13 percent in 2005, to 18 percent in 2008. It is important to note that the presence of drugs does not necessarily mean that the driver was impaired at the time of the crash or that drug use was the cause of the crash. To see a press release regarding this report, go to: http://www.nhtsa.gov/PR/NHTSA-16-10. To access the report, go to: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811415.pdf.

NHTSA releases review of Drug Per Se Laws

Drug Per Se Laws: A Review of Their Use in the States – This research project sought to determine the extent to which States that have drug per se laws use them, and document any special concerns that arise when making and prosecuting an arrest under a drug per se law. NHTSA was also interested in determining whether these laws are effective in increasing driving under the influence of drugs (DUID) arrests and convictions. The project revealed that for many States, the DUID offense is a component within the State’s existing impaired driving offense and there is no indication in the records whether the arrest is for alcohol or drugs. To view the Traffic Tech for this report, go to:

http://www.nhtsa.gov/staticfiles/traffic_tech/tt393.pdf.