By Mari A. Schaefer
Philadelphia Inquirer
PHILADELPHIA — Arrests by the Pennsylvania State Police for driving under the influence were up in 2010 for the ninth year in a row, the agency announced Thursday.
The increase can be attributed to better training for police looking to take impaired drivers - those using alcohol, drugs, or both - off the roads, and increased enforcement efforts through checkpoints and roving patrols, state police said.
“Like anything else, the more you look, the more you find,” said Jack J. Lewis, spokesman for the state police.
Since 2004, 70 troopers and 22 municipal officers throughout the state have been certified as drug-recognition experts (DREs), and have conducted more than 4,000 evaluations of people thought to be impaired.
Thirty-nine other states also are using the program, developed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to train officers to recognize the signs and symptoms of drug-impaired drivers. They administer testing that goes beyond the breath test to check pulse rates and take blood.
The program also helps police recognize whether a driver is suffering from a medical condition rather than drug impairment, police said.
Last year, state police made 17,695 arrests for driving under the influence, a 5 percent increase from 2009.
The number of alcohol-related crashes dropped from 4,635 in 2009 to 4,595 last year, according to state police.
Sgt. Stephen Jones of the New Jersey State Police said troopers there have used the DRE program for about 15 years.
“You rely on those experts when you have a question of drug intoxication,” Jones said. The criminal charges are the same as for driving under the influence of alcohol, he added.
Drug-impaired drivers “have always been out there,” said C. Stephen Erni, executive director of the Pennsylvania Driving Under the Influence Association, an organization seeking to combat drunken driving. He said the number of drivers with drugs in their system was alarming.
The drugs found in drivers’ systems include prescription and over-the-counter medications as well as illegal drugs, state police said.
Drugs for pain or anxiety, marijuana, cocaine, and amphetamines have been detected in drug-impaired drivers. In about 37 percent of evaluations, drivers were found to have more than one kind of drug in their system.
“The biggest problem is still drunk driving,” said Robert B. Voas, a scientist with the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. The effects of drinking while driving are well-documented: Alcohol raises the risk of being in a fatal crash. About 20 percent to 50 percent of drunk drivers also have drugs in their system, he said.
The field of study for drug-impaired drivers is relatively new, Voas said, adding, “There is not nearly the same amount of information as to what extent the drugs impair the driving of individuals.”
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