IN THIS ISSUE:

• Checkpoint

requirements

• Media Messages

• Traffic Safety Facts

• OUI Checkpoint Law

Cases

• Texting Enforcement

Strategies

• ARIDE in Westbrook

THE

MAINE LIAISON Edition 21 Maine Bureau of Highway Safety July 2017

Impaired Driving Summer Campaign

BAC Tests on All Drivers Involved in Fatal Crashes

I am writing to ask your help in ensuring that police officers obtain a BAC test for all surviving drivers involved in fatal crashes or crashes where an officer has probable cause to be-lieves a death could occur (reference 29-A Section 2522 Para. 1.). While most police officers comply, recently we noticed that some are not requiring a test.

Alcohol involvement in fatal crashes is a key indicator of the impaired driving problem in Maine and having a BAC of all surviving drivers is essential in documenting our alcohol prob-lem. We use the information here at the Bureau of Highway Safety and we also include it in data that we provide to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Equally important is that you have exact information relating to drunk driving in your jurisdiction when applying to us for Highway Safety money.

Additionally, a BAC test can benefit a driver because it is proof he/she was not impaired at the time of the crash. TR

The August Impaired Driving Crackdown begins on August 18th and runs through September 4th. This campaign is intended to reduce traffic crashes and deaths when, statistically, data shows we need increased enforcement. All agencies that are participating in our highway safe-ty grants must participate during this time. It can be saturation patrols or checkpoints. If you are not involved in the grant program we encourage you to step up your efforts as well. Please get the messages onto your social media pages to get the message out to the public. In this issue we’ve tried to provide all the information we can to assist you in your enforcement efforts. Page 5 of this newsletter has a link to useful information.

If you would like to host an OUI checkpoint but lack the staffing please contact our LEL. We’ll help you make it happen. And don’t forget, the Roadside Testing Vehicle is available by

appointment.

Maine’s Impaired Driving Roadside Testing Vehicle...available to your Maine Police Agency

Please Contact our office

Impaired Driving Check Point Refresher

Check points are an important tool for combating impaired driving. Not only do they provide an important enforce-ment option, but they also provide an important deterrent and educational effect. However, because checkpoints are Constitutional exception to the typical requirement of RAS for a stop, they can be quite scrutinized. Therefore, it is important to conduct checkpoints properly and according to policy.

Attached are two items that can help your department with these matters: (1) is a suggested OUI checkpoint model policy; and (2) a 2011 Maine Law Court Decision where there was not sufficient evidence that an OUI checkpoint was conducted in accordance to policy and the OUI case judgment from the lower court was vacated. This serves as an excellent learning tool.

State v. Kent, 2011 ME 42

http://www.courts.maine.gov/opinions_orders/supreme/lawcourt/2011/11me42ke.pdf

Here are the main takeaways from that decision:

1) The hosting agency must have a checkpoint SOP which must be adhered to for successful prosecution.

2) The sobriety check point must have prior approval by the Chief or his/her designee.

This order should be in writing and attached to the documentation package delivered to the appropriate DA’s office for prosecution

3) The location selection decision should be in writing, include empirical data, and attached to the documentation package delivered to the appropriate DA’s office for prosecution.

a. The location must be selected based on the following criteria:

1. The frequency and location of prior alcohol related accidents.

2. The frequency and location of prior OUI arrests.

3. The likelihood of deterrence and likelihood of apprehension in various locations.

4. The safety and efficiency of various locations

b. Traditional Media should be notified at least 24 hours in advanced. Social media, in addition to traditional media, is also a good avenue however I do not believe that social media should replace traditional media as a means of public notification. Copies of the notification (as well as which media outlets were notified) should be attached to the documentation package delivered to the appropriate DA’s office for prosecution.

4) Checkpoint activity should be properly documented and attached to the docu-mentation package delivered to the appropriate DA’s office for prosecution.

5) Individual stops must be minimal in time and scope. Officers should not have individualized discretion regarding which vehicles to stop.

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions on this or any other traffic safety question for assistance and training. Scot Mattox

In order for an OUI checkpoint to be valid, the U.S. Supreme court requires that the checkpoint meet certain minimum stand-ards. The checkpoint location and time must be determined by a policy-making official. The decision must be based on data that shows why an OUI checkpoint is needed at that location at that time. The burden is on the police agency to justify the intrusion of motorists’ constitutional rights, and must show that the offic-

ers conducting the checkpoint follow agency policies and procedures.

Criteria necessary for an OUI checkpoint :

1. Site selection and the procedures for operation are established by supervisory personnel. This means that a couple of officers can’t just decide to set up an OUI checkpoint whenever they would like to. They must get approval from a supervisor first.

2. Motorists are stopped according to an established pattern. This means that an officer can’t randomly stop a vehicle at an OUI checkpoint. They have to use the same standard for all of the cars that come through.

3. Officers have to clearly identify themselves. Adequate safety precautions must be taken, such as proper lighting, warning signs, and signals. Clearly identifiable official vehicles and personnel must be used.

4. The manner in which a checkpoint is conducted and its duration reflect good judgment on the part of law enforcement officials. This is an incredibly subjective element but, nonethe-less, the officers have to show that the length of the OUI checkpoint is reasonable.

5. The OUI checkpoint must be clearly identified as an OUI checkpoint. It must exhibit sufficient indi-cation of its official nature in order to reassure mo-torists and minimize intimidation.

6. The average length and nature of detention must be minimal. Officers must set up procedures to make sure that they are not holding motorists long-er than needed to perform the required tasks of the checkpoint.

7. The checkpoint should be advertised. Not the location or times but the fact that law en-forcement will be out there doing a checkpoint. This further minimizes the intimidation.

Requirements for OUI Checkpoints

Below 100 was Formed to Permanently Eliminate Preventable Line of Duty Deaths and Injuries Through

Innovative Training and Awareness

Fatality Rates per

Ranking

State Traffic Fatali-

ties

Population (thousands)

Licensed Drivers

(thousands)

Registered Vehicles

(thousands)

Vehicle Miles Trav-eled

(millions)

100,000 Popula-

tion

100,000 licensed Drivers

100,000 Regis-

tered Vehicles

100 Mil-lion Vehi-cle Miles Traveled

11 Maine 156 1,329 1,020 1,104 14,629 11.74 15.3 14.13 1.07

24 Maine 156 1,329 1,020 1,104 14,629 11.74 15.3 14.13 1.07

22 Maine 156 1,329 1,020 1,104 14,629 11.74 15.3 14.13 1.07

26 Maine 156 1,329 1,020 1,104 14,629 11.74 15.3 14.13 1.07

Alcohol Involvement in Fatal Traffic Crashes, by State, 2006 and 2015

State

Percentage of Fatalities by Highest Driver BAC in the Crash Percentage of Drivers

Involved in Fatal Crashes Tested for

BAC With Known Re-sults in 2015

Rank-ing

BAC .01+ g/dL BAC .08+ g/dL

2006 2015 % Change 2006 2015 % Change Killed Survived

38 Maine 38% 44% 16% 28% 33% 18% 89% 77%

50 Maine 38% 44% 16% 28% 33% 18% 89% 77%

48 Maine 38% 44% 16% 28% 33% 18% 89% 77%

Traffic Safety Facts 2015 Data

In 2015, there were 35,092 fatalities in the United States (50 States and the District of Columbia, excluding Puerto Rico), an increase of 7 percent from 2014 (32,744). https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/812412.

Below is the Maine data from the Traffic Safety Facts. I added the national ranking in the left column. You can see Maine is in the lower or middle of the pack for the number of fatalities, fatalities per 100,000 population, fatalities per 100,000 drivers, and 100 million vehicle miles traveled.

Maine, however, has a lot of work to do. The second graph (yellow) also shows Maine's national ranking when we look at the changes from 2006 to 2015. Alcohol involved fatalities (BAC > 0.08%) climbed in Maine from 28% to 33%. That ranks us 38th best in the county. That 18% increase is one of the worst in the country. TR

2017 National Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Enforcement Mobilization

This year's nationwide drunk driving prevention mobilization will run from August 18 to September 4. Research shows that high-visibility enforcement can reduce drunk driving fatalities by as much as 20 percent. The 2017 Products for Enforcement Action Kit (PEAK) enforcement materials may be used to crack down on drunk drivers and motorcyclists, and increase community awareness of the dangers of drunk driving. Download mobilization materials

In March, NHTSA released a long-anticipated evaluation of strategies to enforce texting while driving bans. Researchers aggregated best practices, drawing on 7,300 hours of high visibility enforcement (HVE) with participating law enforcement agencies in Connecticut and Massachu-setts over four waves of enforcement in 2013 and 2014. Key findings include:

Texting Enforcement Strategies

• The importance of conducting officer training, holding roll calls focused on texting enforcement, and engaging in pre-planning to ensure smooth enforcement operations.

• Creating partnerships with local and state enforcement agencies to multiply forces and maximize re-sources.

• Establishing leadership priority for conducting texting enforcement.

• The use of unmarked vehicles, motorcycle enforcement, detailed officer notes, and the trade-offs in-volved in leveraging “spotter” officers.

• The value of strong distracted driving laws to help with enforcement of texting bans specifically.

• The use of other charges, such as violating a handheld cellphone ban or impeded operation law, when officers cannot prove a driver engaged specifically in texting.

This project emerged from challenges observed in the handling of texting drivers during a handheld cell phone HVE evaluation in Connecticut and New York in 2010-2011. Though officers have long found it difficult to identify and cite texting drivers, this report articulates successful strategies that police can adopt. As 47 states and D.C. now prohib-it texting while driving, states and law enforcement agencies can look to this study to plan more effective programs. Download the report at http://bit.ly/txtenf17.

Drugs of Abuse

DEA Resource Guide 2017 Edition Education plays a critical role in preventing substance abuse. Drugs of Abuse, A DEA Resource Guide, is

designed to be a reliable resource on the most commonly abused and misused drugs in the United

States. This comprehensive guide provides important information about the harms and consequences of

drug use by describing a drug’s effects on the body and mind, overdose potential, origin, legal status, and

other key facts.

Drugs of Abuse also offers a list of additional drug education and

prevention resources, including the DEA websites: www.DEA.gov;

www.JustThinkTwice.com, aimed at teenagers;

www.GetSmartAboutDrugs.com, designed for parents, educators, and

caregivers; and www.operationprevention.com.

This cruiser was struck on Interstate 95 in Palmyra, in

2003. Trooper William Baker

was stationary at the scene of a motor vehicle crash. The cruiser was in the

passing lane with it's emergency light activated when it was struck from be-hind by a tractor-trailer truck. The tractor-trailer operator failed to move

over for Trooper Baker.

Title 29-A §2054-9 The operator of a vehicle passing a stationary authorized emergen-cy vehicle using an emergency light, with due regard to the safety and traffic conditions, shall: A. Pass in a lane not adjacent to that of the authorized emergency vehicle, if possible; or B. If passing in a nonadjacent lane is impossible or unsafe, pass the emergency vehicle at a careful and prudent speed reasonable for passing the authorized emergency vehicle safely. www.Maine.gov

NHTSA

July Impaired

Driving Update

NHTSA’s Impaired Driving Division July newsletter contains information on the national drunk driving enforcement campaign, new database releas-es and upcoming train-ings and conferences.

Download the

newsletter

The Green Light News The July issue of the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan's traffic safety newsletter features articles on marijua-na-impaired driving, current impaired driving issues facing Michigan, the role of drug recognition experts in court, the hidden dangers of vape pens, and state data on traffic fatali-ties. Download the newsletter

A man in Michigan died over the week-end after apparently using liquid fentanyl in a vaping device.

The victim, a 39-year-old Alpena man, could not be revived by medics who found him in a home in Ma-ple Ridge Township on Satur-day — when he and his wife manufactured the synthetic opioid into a vaping liquid after buying it online, MLive.com reports.

nypost.com

DRE Annual Training

Please get your in-service application in for the 2017 DRE Annual Re-cert train-ing . MCJA August 31, 2017. I have 9 applicants out of 107 DRE’s at this time. Thanks. Jim.

James Lyman Maine Criminal Justice Academy

Not only is the in-service required to recertify it’s a chance to keep up with all the updates made available at the national conference. This in-service is the only place to get them. Contact Jim to get your application in ASAP. Thanks, TR

Not sure distracted driving is an issue? Check out this video

from AAA.

You Tube

Move Over Maine

More Than 146,000 Preventable Deaths in 2016 Last year, more than 146,000 people in the U.S. died from preventable caus-es, according to a new report from the National Safety Council. Analysts determined state-by-state grades for road, home, community and work-place safety. Read more

National Heatstroke Prevention Day

The National Highway Traffic Safety Ad-ministration (NHTSA) and Safe Kids Worldwide are asking for help in raising awareness about the danger of heatstroke to kids in cars through social media con-versation this summer. Beginning at 7:00 a.m. EDT on July 31 and August 9, @NHTSAgov will use the hashtags #heatstrokekills and #checkforbaby on all its social media posts and asks partners to join in to help get the conversation started. Download a flyer and sample social media posts Download the Heatstroke Prevention Toolkit

STATE v. KENT 15 A.3d 1286 (2011)

2011 ME 42

STATE of Maine v. Tara L. KENT.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Argued: February 8, 2011.

Decided: March 29, 2011.

Docket: And-10-374.

Michigan State Police v. Sitz 496 U.S. 444 (1990)

U.S. Supreme Court

Michigan State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444 (1990)

Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz

No. 88-1897

Argued Feb. 27, 1990

Decided June 14, 1990

496 U.S. 444

Why SFSTs Should Not Be Referred to as “Pass/Fail”

STATE OF OREGON

Plaintiff-Respondent, v. ABELARDO BELTRAN-

CHAVEZ, Defendant-Appellant Here is an example of why the program teaches not to use the terms “pass” or “fail” when referring to the suspect’s performance on the SFST tests. Re-member, these tests are not designed to be “pass or fail” tests but to merely look for “indicators of im-pairment.” By using the term “pass” or “fail” one is implying that there is a scientifically based stand-ard for these tests that indicate a passing or failing score equals a specific BAC (at least that’s what one argument says). Instead, we should describe these tests as revealing indicators of impairment. Enough indicators (HGN 4, WAT 2, and OLS 2 or some combination) indi-cate “circumstantial evidence of im-pairment.”

State Traffic Data In 2015, there were 35,092 fatalities in the United States (50 States and the District of Columbia, ex-

cluding Puerto Rico), an increase of 7 percent from 2014 (32,744). Vermont and Oregon had the

greatest fatality increases from 2014 to 2015 at 30 percent and 25 per-

cent, respectively, while New Mexico and Massachusetts had the greatest

decreases at 23 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Get your state’s traffic data here: https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/

Public/ViewPublication/812412

Date: August 23 - 24, 2017

Location: Westbrook Police Department

Time: 8:00 - 4:00

Fee: Sponsored by the Region 2 Training

Council and the Maine Bureau of Highway

Safety at no cost to your agency.

Contact: MCJA 877-8000

Program Description: The Maine Bureau of Highway Safety and the Maine Criminal Justice Academy are pleased to offer The National Highway Traffic Safety Admin-istrations’ A.R.I.D.E. course. The course provides officers a better understanding of the elements surrounding the enforcement of impaired driver laws. The course is de-signed to help officers become more proficient at detecting, apprehending, testing and prosecuting impaired drivers. The course includes elements of both the Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) curriculum. This course is not intended to certify you as a Drug Recognition Expert, although it is being considered as a prerequisite for future DRE candidates. Attendees must be proficient in the SFST battery with emphasis on HGN procedures.

The candidate who successfully completes the training will be able to recognize that an individual may be under the influence of a drug or drugs other than alcohol, or un-der the combined influence of alcohol and other drugs, or suffering from some injury or illness that produces signs similar to alcohol/drug impairment.

This course was not designed to be offered to new police recruits. This is an intermedi-ate level course designed to offer more than a basic understanding of the impairing effects of drugs (Illicit and Licit), alcohol, and/or the combination of both.

Personnel who may attend:

All full time law enforcement officers actively enforcing impaired driving laws that work for a department that is committed to detecting and deterring impaired drivers.

Prerequisites:

o Full Time Law Enforcement Officer

o Must have completed the SFST program and been deemed proficient by the MCJA.

o Must meet with an instructor prior to the beginning of the class and review your SFST skills at which time the instructor will sign a new proficiency exam sheet. The signed exam sheet is required on the first day of class. Students without the sheet will not participate.

Class Limit: 20 Students (MCJA In-Service Application required)

AVANCED ROADSIDE IMPAIRED DRIVING ENFORCEMENT(A.R.I.D.E.) PROGRAM

DENVER -- A Denver

woman has been acquit-

ted of driving stoned,

even though she tested

nearly four times above

the state’s legal limit for

marijuana. Driver acquitted of marijuana DUI

CNN Marijuana Driving

Study

https://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=dw1HavgoK9E

Routine Traffic Stop Results in Drug

Arrest for Casper Woman

A routine traffic stop for a vehicle that failed to use a turn signal, has resulted in the arrest of a Casper area woman.

According to an arrest affi-davit, 27 year old Amber Carson was arrested and booked on three recom-mended charges of Con-trolled Substance Posses-sion and one recommended charge of failure to appear.

OilcityWyo.com