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Speed and Alcohol: A Deadly Mix-Is This Lethal Combination at Work in Your Community

July 18, 2011 Comments off

Speed and Alcohol: A Deadly Mix-Is This Lethal Combination at Work in Your Community (PDF)
Source: International Association of Chiefs of Police

In 2008, 10,604 drivers died in speeding-related crashes, 10,946 drivers died in alcohol-impaired crashes, and between those two groups, 4,450 of those drivers had a combined presence of impaired driving and excessive speed. As the numbers clearly indicate, people are dying on our nation’s roadways in crashes that are both preventable and predictable.

While many agencies are fortunate to have a few officers, or even full divisions, assigned to highway and traffic safety activities, many more departments are finding resources taxed to the limit in simply delivering the most basic services required of them as a public safety provider. However, speed and alcohol enforcement can be, and should be, an integral and fundamental part of policing in the 21st century if for no other reason than traffic crashes were the leading cause of death of all United States citizens from age 3 to 34 in 2006.5 These deaths do not discriminate. They occur continually; they happen at all times of the day and night, in rural and urban settings, and without regard to innocent victims.

In particular, when reviewing anecdotal accounts, it has grown increasingly apparent to many practitioners that the relationship between speed and alcohol in traffic crashes holds real significance and bears further scrutiny. There appears to be a correlation that speeders are often impaired and impaired drivers are often speeding.

In the course of developing this report, the author and the advisory panel of practitioners have made an effort to illustrate that relationship and identify selected approaches to help chief executives address the issue of speeding and alcohol traffic-related deaths and serious injuries in their communities.

Categories: alcohol abuse, crime, International Association of Chiefs of Police, legal and law enforcement, motor vehicles, public safety
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