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Alcohol Use
Lessons Learned From a Drunk Driving Accident
Safety Board Urges Refresher Training for Police to Recognize
Excessive Alcohol Use and Impairment
An
off-duty police officer, trained to catch drunk drivers, speeders, and
those who don't wear seat belts, violated all three prohibitions
himself during a fatal accident in
Linden, New Jersey.
The
National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB's) investigation of the
Linden accident indicated that this driver probably had a serious
drinking problem that was either unrecognized or ignored by colleagues,
prompting the NTSB to urge law enforcement organizations to conduct
refresher training in recognizing signs of excessive alcohol use and
impairment.
"This was a tragic accident, a sad warning, and a
wake-up call, since it involved a police officer whose job includes
making our highways safer," Acting NTSB Chairman Mark V. Rosenker said.
"Thankfully, it is not indicative of the hundreds of thousands of law
enforcement officials who put their lives on the line every day and do
an exemplary job of keeping us safer," Rosenker added.
The
accident occurred on May 1, 2003, at about 2 a.m. when an off-duty
police officer driving a Mercedes on U.S. Route 1 lost control of his
vehicle, mounted and crossed a 6-inch-high raised curb, and entered the
northbound lanes, where he collided with a Ford Taurus. All five Taurus
occupants and the Mercedes driver were killed in the crash. The
Mercedes driver was not wearing his seatbelt.
The investigation
determined that the evening of the accident, the Mercedes driver had
stopped at a local bar, attended a softball game where beer was
available, and then returned to the local bar. Investigators who talked
to the driver's friends and colleagues said that no one at the bar or
the softball game recalled seeing him drink alcohol. However,
toxicology tests on the Mercedes driver reported a blood alcohol
concentration of .326 percent, more than four times the legal limit.
The NTSB also came to the following troubling conclusions:
-
The off-duty police officer (the driver of the Mercedes) associated and
worked with other police officers who should have been able to
recognize signs of excessive alcohol use and impairment.
- The
off-duty police officer's ability to function after consuming amounts
of alcohol that would have incapacitated a non-tolerant individual
indicates that he had probably developed a tolerance to alcohol. He
talked with friends and drove his vehicle for 3.35 miles before the
accident.
- Despite the off-duty police officer's apparent
alcohol tolerance, he exhibited alcohol-impaired performance in
allowing his vehicle to drift over and strike the curb, steering
abruptly after hitting the curb, and crossing the three lanes of
traffic and the median.
- Although the off-duty police officer
had no record of impaired driving penalties or violations, it is very
likely that a driver with such a high blood alcohol concentration had
previously driven impaired.
- Had the off-duty police officer
been restrained, the seat belt, in conjunction with the air bag and the
survivable space in the Mercedes, would have reduced his risk of
ejection and fatal injury.
- New Jersey lacks a comprehensive
approach to preventing hardcore drinking driving, including legislation
that defines a high blood alcohol concentration (0.15 or greater) as an
aggravated DWI offense.
- Drivers are not complying with the
posted speed limit of 40 mph on U.S. Route 1 in the vicinity of the
accident, and the apparent lack of traffic law enforcement in this area
may contribute to the higher travel speeds.
A synopsis of the
NTSB's report, including a complete list of conclusions and
recommendations, is available on the Highway Publications page on the
NTSB's Web site, www.ntsb.gov.
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March 11, 2010
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