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DUI (Driving Under the Influence) Enforcement Problems at Roadside

NCJ Number
161337
Journal
Alcohol, Drugs and Driving Volume: 7 Issue: 3-4 Dated: (July-December 1991) Pages: 215-220
Author(s)
M Burns
Date Published
1991
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This paper examines some problems that police officers have in identifying persons at roadside who have a blood alcohol concentration at or above the legal limit and discusses the implications.
Abstract
Traffic officers' views provide an important perspective on problems that occur during roadside enforcement activities. They consider their alcohol-related decisions to be most difficult when the suspect is an alcohol-tolerant individual who displays few behavioral symptoms of impairment. On occasion, nontolerant drinkers, who are impaired at low to moderate blood alcohol concentrations, also may be difficult to identify. For some reason they are exceptionally resistant to alcohol effects on balance and coordination and thus display few of the easily recognized behavioral signs of intoxication. Further, the driver who is impaired by a drug other than alcohol or by a combination of substances is a problem at roadside, both because the impairment may be difficult to assess and because traffic officers lack appropriate training. In part, the lack of training is attributable to a lack of data on the behavioral symptoms of various drugs in the body. Although officers' enforcement decisions are expected to reflect current laws, the availability of pertinent enforcement data may lag far behind changes in laws. Research cannot keep pace with a continually changing drug scene on the one hand, nor can officers' enforcement responsibilities be delayed on the other. Officers must make roadside decisions with or without supporting facts. With some justification, officers believe the attribution of roadside mistakes in decisionmaking is not only the officer's fault. 1 table and 14 references