Selective Traffic Enforcement Program (STEP) Grant DUI Saturation Patrol, now that’s a mouthful. STEP grants are awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to programs across the state that serve to achieve the STEP grant goal of reducing the number of deaths and injuries on our roads…
DUI with Injury Plea Vacated After Court Finds Violation of Victim’s Rights When a driver, who is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, causes injury to another person, the driver will almost always be charged with violation of Vehicle Code section 23153, also known as DUI with injury. This…
Yesterday morning at around 6:30 a.m., three people inside the bedroom of their Pasadena home—probably still sleeping although news reports don’t tell us—suddenly found their bedroom decorated with a pickup truck. Fortunately, none of the residents was seriously injured but the structural damage to the home rendered the house…
LIES, DAMNED LIES, AND STATISTICS In 1989, declaring that drivers under the influence present a danger on the roads and in an effort to deter and punish driving under the influence, the California Legislature passed a bill that ordered the California DMV to establish and maintain data on driving under…
There is no question that a lot of people are killed by drunk drivers. If we took all drunk drivers off the road, there would be around 1,000 people who wouldn’t have died last year alone on California roads according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) statistics. While…
Last year saw a new law passed that will require most DUI offenders to install an ignition interlock (IID) device on their vehicle, even first-time DUI offenders. The law is scheduled to go into effect in 2019 and it is anticipated that it will decrease the number of drunk…
The primary roadside tool used by law enforcement officers in the enforcement of DUI laws is the Preliminary Breath Test (PBT) or Preliminary Alcohol Screening (PAS) breathalyzer device. These small devices can be easily held in one hand. The officer instructs the driver blow into a mouthpiece on the…
When a drunk driver kills someone, he or she is usually charged under the vehicular manslaughter laws. But under certain circumstances, the driver can be charged with 2nd degree murder. Known as a “Watson Murder” charge, this crime gets its name from a California Supreme Court case, People v.…
You know all about drinking responsibly, soon we will be hearing about serving responsibly. Perhaps you recall the tragic incident in San Diego two years ago when a drunken U.S. Marine driving his vehicle on the wrong side of the rode hit a car head on in which two…
The use of roadside sobriety tests (Field Sobriety Tests or FSTs) for the detection of marijuana influence in drivers is not supported by current research and studies. The Massachusetts Supreme Court recognized this in a recent decision concerning an officer’s testimony on an alleged marijuana-influenced driver’s FST performance. The…