Sobering Up

A Belgium-based safe driving organization has launched a campaign to promote an innovative—yet relatively simple—program for reducing drunk driving. Responsible Young Drivers (RYD) organizes events throughout Belgium to bring attention to safety issues like seat belt use and drunk driving, with an emphasis on youth. In Belgium, the legal drinking age for beer and wine [...]

On the 25th anniversary of our nation’s deadliest alcohol-impaired driving crash, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a new set of alcohol-impaired driving recommendations. The most notable recommendation is gaining a lot of attention: Reducing the maximum Blood Alcohol Content from 0.08 BAC to 0.05 BAC in all 50 states. These 19 recommendations are [...]

On May 14, 1988, near Carrollton, Kentucky, a school bus filled with children and their adult chaperons was returning from a church outing. Larry Mahoney, driving drunk and the wrong way, slammed in to their bus, and it burst into flames. In all, 24 children and 3 adults perished in that wreck, with numerous others [...]

On April 29th North Dakota Governor Jack Dalrymple signed a new piece of DUI legislation that officials say with substantially strengthen North Dakota’s drunk driving laws. House Bill 1302, which goes into effect August 1st,  increases the fines for DUI convictions, increases jail time for second and subsequent offenses, and requires repeat DUI offenders to [...]

Last month the United States Supreme Court in Missouri v. McNeely ruled to uphold a Missouri Supreme Court ruling in which the defendant, charged with DUI, moved to suppress results from a blood test obtained by the arresting officer without the defendant’s consent or a search warrant, claiming the unauthorized test violated his Fourth Amendment [...]

Cinco de Mayo has entered the mainstream as a holiday, celebrated with good food and many times, an icy adult beverage. With the holiday falling on a Sunday this year, the potential for more people driving home impaired this weekend after their local fiestas is greater than if the holiday occurred on a weekday. How [...]

In the UK it is estimated that 2.6 million children live with a parent whose drinking puts them at risk of neglect, and 705,000 live with a dependent drinker. What does this mean for a family? Alcohol plays a part in 25-33% of known cases of child abuse, alcohol use is a contributor in a [...]

On St. Patrick’s Day, over 122 million Americans will observe the Catholic Saint’s Feast Day by wearing the green or making a traditional Irish meal. Celebrations will often include hoisting a pint of Guiness or a measure of whiskey at a favorite local pub, and perhaps playing a round of Pub Trivia. In honor of [...]

Danish soccer player Niklas Bendtner is paying a heavy price for drunk driving without a valid license this past Sunday in downtown Copenhagen. On Tuesday, Bendtner was been fined the equivalent of $147,000US and had his driving privileges revoked for three years. Also, the Danish Football Association suspended Bendtner from international play for six months. How [...]

The discussion about impaired driving in Colorado has recently focused on the issue of drugged driving with the passage of Amendment 64, which legalized marijuana in the state of Colorado in 2012. Since passage of the law, criminal justice stakeholders, the state law enforcement community, highway safety community, and the medical marijuana industry have been [...]