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Drunken driving arrests decrease
By Associated Press
Sunday, January 2, 2005
BOSTON -- The number of drunken driving arrests in Massachusetts has dropped nearly 30 percent since the mid-1990s, a decline that is both good news because it indicates greater public awareness of the dangers, and bad news because it indicates less enforcement by police, officials say.
Arraignments on drunken driving charges fell from 23,746 in 1993 to 16,808 in 2003, according to the State Office of the Commissioner of Probation. But between 1996 and 2004, the number of drivers asked to take Breathalyzer tests by state police dropped about 25 percent and the number of drunken driving deaths was up 13 percent from 1998 to 2003, the last six years for which figures were available.
Tougher drunken driving laws and increased media attention have helped make drunken driving socially unacceptable. Designated drivers are commonplace and bartenders are reluctant to serve the intoxicated. "The message is getting through," said Conrad Shultz, director of drinking programs at High Point Treatment Center in Plymouth.
Yet, at the same, time, traffic enforcement has slipped, officials said. Budget cuts have left fewer police patrolling the streets in many communities, and law enforcement's priorities have changed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Braintree Deputy Chief Kevin McHugh said his department is down from 86 patrolmen in the late 1990s to 63 today.
In Plympton, Chief Matthew M. Clancy said he often has one man on the road, while in past years he might have had two. "We have fewer cops expected to do more things because of 9/11," he said. "We're spread that much thinner."
There are as many drunken drivers these days as in the past, said Matt Shedd, president of the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "There's no reason to believe there are significantly fewer drunk drivers," he said.
Public awareness programs have made social drinkers more responsible, but the hardcore drinkers are still on the roads, he said. Only tougher enforcement, including frequent driver checkpoints, can bring the numbers down, said Shedd, whose teenage daughter was killed by a drunken driver 14 years ago.
State law was stiffened in 2003 with the passage of the so-called "per se" law, which says that a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 or higher is considered proof of driving under the influence for a driver 21 or older. Previously, a reading of 0.08 was considered only one piece of evidence. Now, a driver can be convicted with a lower reading, if evidence such as field sobriety testing points to the driver's guilt.
The holiday season is typically the worst time of the year for drunken driving deaths. About 45 percent of all fatalities during the Christmas and New Year's holidays nationally have involved an impaired driver, compared with 30 percent during the rest of December, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. About 410 people on average die nationally during each of the three-day Christmas and New Year's holidays, agency officials said.
By Associated Press
Sunday, January 2, 2005
BOSTON -- The number of drunken driving arrests in Massachusetts has dropped nearly 30 percent since the mid-1990s, a decline that is both good news because it indicates greater public awareness of the dangers, and bad news because it indicates less enforcement by police, officials say.
Arraignments on drunken driving charges fell from 23,746 in 1993 to 16,808 in 2003, according to the State Office of the Commissioner of Probation. But between 1996 and 2004, the number of drivers asked to take Breathalyzer tests by state police dropped about 25 percent and the number of drunken driving deaths was up 13 percent from 1998 to 2003, the last six years for which figures were available.
Tougher drunken driving laws and increased media attention have helped make drunken driving socially unacceptable. Designated drivers are commonplace and bartenders are reluctant to serve the intoxicated. "The message is getting through," said Conrad Shultz, director of drinking programs at High Point Treatment Center in Plymouth.
Yet, at the same, time, traffic enforcement has slipped, officials said. Budget cuts have left fewer police patrolling the streets in many communities, and law enforcement's priorities have changed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Braintree Deputy Chief Kevin McHugh said his department is down from 86 patrolmen in the late 1990s to 63 today.
In Plympton, Chief Matthew M. Clancy said he often has one man on the road, while in past years he might have had two. "We have fewer cops expected to do more things because of 9/11," he said. "We're spread that much thinner."
There are as many drunken drivers these days as in the past, said Matt Shedd, president of the state chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "There's no reason to believe there are significantly fewer drunk drivers," he said.
Public awareness programs have made social drinkers more responsible, but the hardcore drinkers are still on the roads, he said. Only tougher enforcement, including frequent driver checkpoints, can bring the numbers down, said Shedd, whose teenage daughter was killed by a drunken driver 14 years ago.
State law was stiffened in 2003 with the passage of the so-called "per se" law, which says that a blood-alcohol content of 0.08 or higher is considered proof of driving under the influence for a driver 21 or older. Previously, a reading of 0.08 was considered only one piece of evidence. Now, a driver can be convicted with a lower reading, if evidence such as field sobriety testing points to the driver's guilt.
The holiday season is typically the worst time of the year for drunken driving deaths. About 45 percent of all fatalities during the Christmas and New Year's holidays nationally have involved an impaired driver, compared with 30 percent during the rest of December, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. About 410 people on average die nationally during each of the three-day Christmas and New Year's holidays, agency officials said.
