Well, some of you may have noticed my blog didn’t appear last week. My new computer and I weren’t getting along. I got some malware or a virus and the thing crashed on me. I had to enlist the help of a friend who is a computer genius, and now I’m back up and running. I have also installed new anti-virus/anti-spyware software. I’m still having some issues with the link function here, so forgive my lengthy link urls. Enough about that, back to the topic at hand.
Last week, er…two weeks ago, I started a blog where I asked for some input from you, the reader as to what you’d like to know about the law and drinking and driving. You can read it here: http://blog.rv.net/2008/02/26/drinking-and-driving-law-enforcement-perspective/
I got some interesting messages and comments from you.
One of the first things I thought I’d cover was how much is too much?
This is a bit of a moving target, because everyones tolerance for alcohol is different. For the average person though, your body will metabolize about 15mg% per hour, which is roughly one bottle of beer, one small glass of wine, or one 1oz shot.
So, does drinking on an empty stomach make the alcohol more of an “influence” on your body? The answer here is no, with a “*” attached. Many people think that food will “absorb” alcohol and therefore lessen the effects. This isn’t actually what happens. In layman’s terms, at the bottom of your stomach, there is a valve that allows food into your small intestine (called the pyloric valve). When you eat, this valve closes to allow the enzymes and acids in your stomach to “work on” the food as a form of ‘pre-digestion”. When your stomach is empty, this valve is open. Your small intestine is more efficient at absorbing alcohol into your bloodstream than your stomach is. Therefore when your stomach is empty, the alcohol flows through the inefficient stomach, and is passed into the small intestine; and absorbed into the bloodstream quicker, where it now influences your behaviour as it is carried to the brain and muscles. So, you don’t get “more drunk” on an empty stomach, but you get to peak BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration) sooner than with a full stomach. That’s why drinking alcohol on an empty stomach can feel like it “hits you” with more effect.
Drinking coffee to “sober you up”? This just makes you more wide awake, but it doesn’t mitigate the impairment effects of alcohol. Alcohol is a drug, and it is classified as a “depressant”. This means it slows you down. It slows down reaction time and other mental processes – that is what makes it such a danger when combined with driving. It also makes you sleepy because it is a depressant.
Here’s a touchy one. What do the Police (guys like me) look for to spot an impaired driver? Well, it’s not rocket science. And me telling people what Police look for will not allow those that choose to drink and drive to “get away with it”. People exhibit the same signs as they have throughout time and all eternity when they drink. What I say won’t change that. The effects of alcohol are involuntary – that is they effect the drinker whether or not the drinker chooses to be effected. We as law enforcement officers have many tools to use to combat drinking and driving. Most valuable and most used of these is experience. I was reminded of this just last week when working with a new partner. With only two years policing experience, she is still quite junior. Due to her last work assignment, she hasn’t had much opportunity to deal with and investigate cases of impaired drivers. We were working patrol and spotted a vehicle going significantly over the speed limit (121Km/h in a 70Km/h zone). After finally catching up to the vehicle, my partner turned on the red and blue lights, and we did a traffic stop. I called it in as a possible impaired driver, just based on the driving and the time of day (2 or 3am).
My partner got out and spoke to the driver, a man in his late 20s/early 30s. When she returned, I did some enquiring about the status of sobriety she had observed on the driver. She said he denied drinking and she couldn’t smell anything on him. I had her go back to the vehicle and get him out so I could speak to him (he had no ID). As soon as he got out of his vehicle and I saw his face, I could tell he had been drinking. He had the “drunk face”. I mean, some scientist should study this. I don’t know what it is, but they all look the same, droopy eyelids, half smile, slow facial movements, there’s more, but I just can’t do it justice by explaining it in words. Anyway, upon further interview, the driver began exhibiting more signs of impairment, I noted a slur in his speech, and we both smelled liquor on his breath, and he was arrested.
There are also the classic signs with the way the vehicle is being operated; like improper speeds (too fast or too slow), weaving, improper use of lights/signal lights, issues with disobeying traffic control devices such as missing a light/stop sign/etc.
The guy we arrested ended up refusing to comply with the breath sample demand. In Canada, persons arrested for DUI can refuse to blow, but that constitutes and offence in itself, and guess what…the punishment for a conviction for refusing to blow is the same as if they did blow and were over the legal limit. It’s actually a much easier report to write from my point of view, and also very difficult to plead not guilty to from the accused person’s point of view. The same penalty applies for refusing the roadside screening device, which is a small pass/warn/fail type device we carry in the patrol cars with us. The legal threshold to demand someone blow into one of those devices is relatively low, and in Canada, there is no right to call a lawyer before blowing in a roadside screening device. Our Supreme Court has, some time ago, deemed it a minor inconvenience to blow in a roadside screening device compared to the cost to society and the death, injury, and destruction that impaired driving causes.
Besides the breath testers, some police agencies (like the one I work for) train their police officers on administering the psycho-physical tests we call the SFSTs or “Standardized Field Sobriety Tests”. These are the tests we have people perform on the roadside that can include walking a straight line, standing on one foot, and eye tests. You have more than likely seen these administered on TV on one of the Cop shows. I have been trained in, and an instructor for this course for a number of years, and use it’s training often. I prefer it over the breath tests sometimes as it can really paint an accurate picture of the level of someones impairment.
I also have a beef to air – and it’s with the media. Around here, a murder the lead story for days after it occurs. They even count them on a yearly basis. “Our city’s 5th murder of the year” they’ll say on the news. But no one “counts” deaths caused by drunk drivers. The stats for Canada are something like 500 murders a year, and around 3000 deaths caused by impaired driving. Which one should the media be counting I ask?
The final message I would like to send out is this. If you’re planning on drinking at a social event/party, go ahead – but plan ahead, and plan a safe ride home. Please don’t drink then drive.
See you next week.