Fight A DUI

The Orange Leader has an article noting an interesting trend in recent DUI arrests:

“There has been an increase of DUI versus DWI because of an increase of people being on prescription medication,” said Sgt. L.L. Claybar of the Orange Police Department.

The story includes a number of specific incidents, including a woman on Hydrocodone, Alprazolam, and Carisoprodol, a combination which will clearly impair your ability to operate a moving vehicle. However, Sgt. Claybar notes that prescription drugs haven’t replaced alcohol entirely:

“Some may be more medicinal then drunkenness, but we are still seeing a fair amount of those that are intoxicated by alcohol,” Claybar said.

The Mohave Daily News has an article about the death of Dustin Shamblin, 21, who was struck and killed on Highway 95 as he walked home following the DUi arrest of a friend.

In the early morning hours of Oct. 29, Dustin William Shamblin, 21, was walking northbound in the right lane of Highway 95 between Hulet and Jerome avenues when he was struck and killed, an Arizona Department of Public Safety report stated.

Shamblin and Regina Guarisco, 20, of Fort Mojave attended a Halloween party and were on their way home when Guarisco was stopped and arrested by sheriff deputies for misdemeanor driving under the influence, driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level more than 0.08 percent and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Guarisco was taken to county jail and the car towed leaving Shamblin, who was also intoxicated, alone on the roadway.

Police note that their policy prevents them from driving passengers home, though they apparently offered to call for a ride.

Concord police plan to conduct a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint from 9 p.m. Friday to 3 a.m. Saturday on Monument Boulevard at Erickson Road.The checkpoint is the first of eight planned for the next two years as part of a “Report Drunk Drivers — Call 911″ program. The checkpoints will be funded by a grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety, according to Concord police Cpl. Carl Gaskins.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol and other local police will be out tonight in Franklin Township looking for drunk drivers.

A drunk-driving checkpoint will be running from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Ohio 73, just west of Interstate 75, officials announced today.

In addition to the checkpoint, there will be nearby “saturation patrols” to hunt for drunk drivers.