Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

A memo from Captain Tim Culhane was discovered by FOX4 News that questioned why troopers didn't make any drunk driving arrests in Fort Myers and elsewhere in 2011. In the memo, he asked troopers to start working every other Friday night until a DUI arrest is made. This leads many residents to believe that the increase in enforcement efforts will deter drunk drivers from hitting our roadways. According to FOX4, the e-mail memo from the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) references a quota system for traffic busts, a system that the FHP denies is in place.

"FHP does not have a quota. Again, our priority is making the roadways safe and we hold troopers accountable for being in line with the agency's mission of, in this instance, removing impaired drivers from the roadway," says Lt. Greg Bueno, a spokesman for FHP.

Our Fort Myers drunk driving accident attorneys understand that, quota or not, drunk drivers don't belong on our roadways. You can't force residents not to drink, but you can enforce drunk driving laws to keep them off the roads. Bueno says that this memo was released to address performance issues with the department and to help reiterate the importance of busting drunk drivers across Southwest Florida.

Click here to read the memo.

In the memo, Culhane writes, "I find it hard to believe they went all year with PM and Midnights and did not get at least one DUI shift."

According to www.dui-usa.drinkdriving.org, there were more than 790 fatal accidents in 2008 in the state of Florida that were the result of car accidents that involved a drunk driver, with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.08 or higher. In these accidents, nearly 900 people died. In addition to the drunk driving-related car accidents in Florida, there were another 170 people killed in car accidents in which a driver had a BAC of 0.01 to 0.07. Overall, there were more than 1,040 people killed in alcohol-related car accidents in 2008.

The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism offers residents information to help clear up common misconceptions of alcohol consumption.

Common Misconceptions of Drunk Driving:

-It takes a while for me to get drunk. FALSE! Alcohol affects you quickly. Alcohol interferes with people's judgment, driving skills and coordination before physical signals of "being drunk" appear. Continuing to consume alcohol can prolong resident's reaction time and can cause someone to become aggressive and lose control, making driving much harder.

-I can sober up when I want. FALSE! The effects of alcohol last longer than you think. Alcohol lingers in the bloodstream and hinders brain function long after alcohol is consumed. Late-night driving ignites the sedative effects of booze. This is bad because people are naturally tired during the evening, too. Driving abilities are even hindered the morning after the alcohol is consumed.

-Coffee will help to sober me up. FALSE! Coffee isn't going to sober you up. Time is the only thing that will allow the body to break down or metabolize alcohol and return to normal.