Latest / Community D.C. / Community DC | Kurt Erickson | WRAP

Transcript

Community DC | Kurt Erickson | WRAP · Community D.C.

0:01
Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community d C.
0:04
Speaker 1: I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
0:06
Speaker 1: to the program Kurt Ericson. He is the president of
0:09
Speaker 1: the Washington Regional Alcohol Program, also known as RAP. We'll
0:13
Speaker 1: talk about everything that RAP has done this past year
0:15
Speaker 1: and what they're doing as we head into the holidays,
0:18
Speaker 1: and educate you about drinking and driving and their very
0:21
Speaker 1: successful partnership with the Sober Ride Group. Here's my conversation
0:24
Speaker 1: with Kurt. I hope you enjoy it as much as
0:26
Speaker 1: I did. Good morning, Kurt, Good morning Dennis.
0:29
Speaker 2: How are you happy on holidays?
0:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, you too. It's been a while since we've had
0:31
Speaker 1: you in the program, so welcome back and a lot
0:34
Speaker 1: to talk about when it comes to RAP. And I
0:36
Speaker 1: want to do this because I know you've been on
0:38
Speaker 1: the program many times and you're so gracious with your
0:40
Speaker 1: time and sometimes we have police officers on with you.
0:42
Speaker 1: It's just one on one today with the show and
0:45
Speaker 1: Community DC. But I did want to kind of educate
0:48
Speaker 1: our listeners and might not be familiar with RAP and
0:50
Speaker 1: what it is. Can you just kind of give a
0:52
Speaker 1: thirty thousand foot view for our listeners?
0:54
Speaker 2: Ye? So RAP stands for the Washington Regional Alcohol Program.
0:58
Speaker 2: It's a now forty three year old public private partnership
1:02
Speaker 2: form to fight drunk driving the under age drinking. We
1:05
Speaker 2: do it through public education, innovative health education programs, and advocacy.
1:11
Speaker 2: But I think people probably best know us through something
1:13
Speaker 2: that we've talked about, and it's probably courtesy of you
1:16
Speaker 2: that people know us this way, which is worthy three
1:19
Speaker 2: person nonprofit that's behind the region's sober Ride program, which
1:22
Speaker 2: is a program that safely takes people home on these
1:26
Speaker 2: high drinking, high alcohol consumption holidays and we take them
1:29
Speaker 2: home via our partner at LEFT and we've had a
1:32
Speaker 2: ninety five thousand people over ninety five thousand we will
1:35
Speaker 2: take advantage of this program since it started back in
1:38
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety one.
1:39
Speaker 1: Well, it's pretty extraordinary and there's some great numbers. And
1:41
Speaker 1: since we haven't talked in a while, how did we
1:44
Speaker 1: do with the July fourth holiday? And then I know
1:46
Speaker 1: for a fact because it's on your website that you
1:48
Speaker 1: had record numbers for sober Ride Halloween? How did we
1:51
Speaker 1: do in those two holidays?
1:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, they were both great numbers.
1:54
Speaker 2: So independence state specifically this year we had nearly six
1:57
Speaker 2: hundred people actually five hundred and eightyized this local and
2:01
Speaker 2: lifesaber program rather than driving home and pair. We offered
2:04
Speaker 2: it on where we offered at four pm to four
2:06
Speaker 2: am on actually July fourth. If you do the math
2:10
Speaker 2: on the eight hours that we off offered the program,
2:12
Speaker 2: it translated into the removal of a would be drunk
2:14
Speaker 2: driver every seventy four seconds. And in fact, it was
2:17
Speaker 2: the fourth highest level of ridership without holiday, which you're
2:20
Speaker 2: absolute right. The Halloween is where we really shine, because
2:24
Speaker 2: let me give you an example. So last year for Halloween,
2:26
Speaker 2: we had seven hundred and thirty five people utilized this
2:29
Speaker 2: program rather than driving home drunk. This year, because Halloween
2:33
Speaker 2: fell on a Friday, we offered it for two nights
2:35
Speaker 2: Friday October thirty first, and then Saturday November first, and
2:38
Speaker 2: then total over four thousand. In fact, four thousand and
2:42
Speaker 2: fifty six persons utilized this local anti drunk.
2:46
Speaker 3: Driving program rather than driving home.
2:47
Speaker 2: And pair, which was the single most highest level of
2:51
Speaker 2: ridership in civil rights thirty four year history. And more importantly,
2:55
Speaker 2: it propels us to something that I think we would
2:58
Speaker 2: reach this soon, but we are now at the nearly
3:00
Speaker 2: one hundred thousand persons served mark and the fact that
3:03
Speaker 2: we've given out ninety nine thousand, four hundred and ninety
3:06
Speaker 2: three rides. So when we again do this next month
3:09
Speaker 2: in December, we will in fact be reaching that one
3:12
Speaker 2: hundred thousand served milestone.
3:13
Speaker 1: Outstanding. They're great numbers. And what I want to do
3:16
Speaker 1: is I want to circle back to how people activate
3:18
Speaker 1: sober ride because I think that's important. But the one
3:22
Speaker 1: thing that you know, I always talk to you during
3:23
Speaker 1: the holidays or an upcoming holiday, and I know that
3:26
Speaker 1: you have some data from this year in past years too.
3:30
Speaker 1: How are we doing a drunk driving because I know
3:32
Speaker 1: what happens every day, not just the holidays, but numbers
3:34
Speaker 1: can go out because people drink during parties, during holidays,
3:37
Speaker 1: so forth and so on. That data proves that. But
3:40
Speaker 1: as we look at drunk driving in the DMV, or
3:42
Speaker 1: at least the areas that you work with different municipalities, Kurt,
3:45
Speaker 1: how are we doing? Are we getting better, are we
3:47
Speaker 1: getting worse? Or is it kind of the same? And
3:49
Speaker 1: what does that data say?
3:51
Speaker 2: Actually, it's more of a mixed bag of results. And
3:53
Speaker 2: we're sitting on top of what we've team with the
3:55
Speaker 2: Metropolitan Washington Council of Government. So I think it's almost
3:58
Speaker 2: thirty years now that we produce sort of report called
4:00
Speaker 2: how Safe Our Roads, and we're sitting on top of
4:03
Speaker 2: one that's going to be issued in December that's going
4:06
Speaker 2: to have twenty twenty four numbers. But if you look
4:07
Speaker 2: at the twenty twenty three numbers just for the DMV,
4:11
Speaker 2: there's some good news in there. Drunk driving injuries are down.
4:13
Speaker 2: They decreased by over two percent. Drunk driving crashes are down,
4:17
Speaker 2: they in decreased by over five percent. But and drunk
4:20
Speaker 2: driving arrests are down. That's not always a good thing,
4:23
Speaker 2: mind you, but those are down four percent. Trust me.
4:25
Speaker 3: There's not less people drinking and driving.
4:28
Speaker 2: But what went up during that period is that drunk
4:31
Speaker 2: driving fatalities went up, does not. They didn't just go
4:33
Speaker 2: up by four percent. They went up for a second
4:36
Speaker 2: year in a row. And that pretty much follows if
4:39
Speaker 2: you pull like Virginia as an example, because I was
4:41
Speaker 2: looking at these figures this morning in Virginia in the
4:44
Speaker 2: last year actually in twenty twenty four, drunk driving crashes
4:47
Speaker 2: went down, great news. Drunk driving injuries went down, great news,
4:50
Speaker 2: But drunk driving fatalities also went up for a second
4:54
Speaker 2: year in a row and went up by over eight percent.
4:57
Speaker 2: So anybody that's thinking that the fight again strunk driving
5:00
Speaker 2: has been one could not be more wrong. And I
5:03
Speaker 2: know we compete with other very valid traffic safety issues
5:07
Speaker 2: of drowsing, driving, distructor driving, aggressive driving, and those are
5:11
Speaker 2: all important, but nobody should think that the fight against
5:13
Speaker 2: drunk driving has been one.
5:14
Speaker 1: Well, let's do this. I think it's an excellent segue
5:16
Speaker 1: to talk about education. Beside you being on this program
5:19
Speaker 1: from time to time, I know that your megaphone along
5:22
Speaker 1: with ours. There's a lot of different ways that you
5:25
Speaker 1: get the message out besides just word of mouth when
5:27
Speaker 1: it comes to sober Right and what you do. Can
5:29
Speaker 1: you talk about some of the different things when it
5:30
Speaker 1: comes to events and education and working with municipalities about
5:34
Speaker 1: how you get the word out about sober Right and
5:36
Speaker 1: what wrap does.
5:38
Speaker 2: I think the two biggest outreaches that we do are
5:41
Speaker 2: two distinct populations. One is youth and one as adults.
5:44
Speaker 2: And this is in the Greater Washington area. The youth outreach,
5:48
Speaker 2: which is probably where we have the biggest impact. It's
5:50
Speaker 2: a program that we have done now for two decades
5:53
Speaker 2: called Alcohol and Learners for Students, which is a multimedia
5:57
Speaker 2: outreach program using an interactive power point presentation, but.
6:01
Speaker 3: Also fatal vision goggles. Those are the goggles that people.
6:04
Speaker 2: Wear that at least simulate what it's like to be
6:06
Speaker 2: visually impaired by alcohol, and then put them through some
6:08
Speaker 2: motor skill, whether they're shooting baskets, whether they're driving a
6:12
Speaker 2: golf cart on a course, or even walking a straight lining.
6:15
Speaker 2: We've reached as many as nine thousand students a year
6:17
Speaker 2: with this program, and again it's really straightforward. We're simply
6:20
Speaker 2: trying to communicate the real consequences, the economic consequences, the
6:25
Speaker 2: life change of consequences, the social consequences of underach drinking.
6:29
Speaker 2: We're not doing it through scare tactics. It's a very
6:32
Speaker 2: straight up approach. It's a forty five minute presentation and
6:36
Speaker 2: in the schools that we've done this, we've had market
6:38
Speaker 2: increase of delayed use of alcohol reported by the students
6:43
Speaker 2: of the region. Again, it's a high school based program.
6:45
Speaker 2: The other initiative is called Safe and Vital Employees or
6:49
Speaker 2: WE abbreviated SAVE, which is almost the same thing, but
6:52
Speaker 2: for adults. It's an innovative business outreach program where we
6:55
Speaker 2: bring traffic safety to the workplace while helping educate lawyers
7:00
Speaker 2: on the dangers of impair driving on both a personal
7:03
Speaker 2: and professional level.
7:04
Speaker 3: I think it would surprise maybe your listeners to know.
7:06
Speaker 2: That that traffic incidents are still the number one killer
7:09
Speaker 2: of US employees. They're not necessarily all alcohol related, but
7:14
Speaker 2: the fact of the matter is that transportation safety is
7:16
Speaker 2: a key interest just about any employer.
7:20
Speaker 1: Kurt I realized that when it comes to the data
7:22
Speaker 1: in the DMV, that's ours exclusively, and I get that.
7:26
Speaker 1: And we're in a high congested area. As you take
7:29
Speaker 1: a look at data maybe in some of the other
7:31
Speaker 1: major markets, how are we comparing? Is everybody along the
7:34
Speaker 1: same level? And I realize that there's more people, there's
7:37
Speaker 1: more drivers, there's going to be more drunk and driving
7:39
Speaker 1: out there, and more fatalities. How do we kind of
7:41
Speaker 1: compare to maybe some of the other cities around the country.
7:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question, and that's one area where
7:47
Speaker 2: the DC area does excel and I definitely attribute it
7:50
Speaker 2: to a high level of awareness of this program. You've
7:53
Speaker 2: got good options to do things to get home besides
7:58
Speaker 2: driving home. Impair in other words, you've got a great
8:01
Speaker 2: public transportation infrastructure, you've got rideshare, you've got taxi cabs,
8:05
Speaker 2: all which are available, which aren't university available in every
8:08
Speaker 2: metropolitan area. And what that said, we're constantly or historically
8:12
Speaker 2: below the national level of which all traffic crashes involve alcohol.
8:17
Speaker 2: I want to say, I used to remember the number.
8:19
Speaker 2: I think it's about thirty two. Thirty three percent of
8:21
Speaker 2: all traffic fatalities in this country still involved drunk drivers.
8:24
Speaker 2: But in the DC area specifically that being Montgomery County,
8:28
Speaker 2: Prince George's County, the District Arlington, Fair Tracts, laud and
8:31
Speaker 2: Prince William it's twenty eight percent. So we, in a
8:34
Speaker 2: positive way, we are below the national average of the
8:37
Speaker 2: percentage of all traffic debts that involve drunk drivers. That's
8:40
Speaker 2: a great thing, but it still echoes the fact that
8:43
Speaker 2: over a quarter of our traffic deaths involved drunk drivers,
8:47
Speaker 2: meaning that they're one hundred percent preventable.
8:49
Speaker 3: So you know, there's still more work to be done.
8:52
Speaker 1: Clearly, I want to talk more about education, and I
8:56
Speaker 1: want to relate a personal story for you. So a
8:58
Speaker 1: lot of our listeners know that I have a year
9:00
Speaker 1: old that lives in Brooklyn as a filmmaker now, and
9:02
Speaker 1: we were talking about drinking and driving, and my kid
9:05
Speaker 1: is pretty responsible. And I think you and I can
9:07
Speaker 1: agree when it comes to different moral messages or anything else,
9:11
Speaker 1: including drink and driving, it starts at home with the
9:14
Speaker 1: parents solidifying that you just don't do it when you
9:17
Speaker 1: get behind the wheel with your kids, right. And we've
9:20
Speaker 1: done this with my daughter since before she was sixteen,
9:23
Speaker 1: don't drink and drive. And she brought up the other
9:26
Speaker 1: day to me, you know, are you even talking And
9:28
Speaker 1: she asked me, are you even talking about one drink?
9:29
Speaker 1: I shouldn't get behind the wheel, And I said absolutely.
9:33
Speaker 1: I said, you just don't want to put yourself in
9:34
Speaker 1: harm's way to get the opportunity that if you were
9:37
Speaker 1: to get into an accident, whether it's yourself or somebody
9:40
Speaker 1: else's fault, that you would have liquor on your breath
9:43
Speaker 1: or in your system, and it puts everybody in harm's way.
9:45
Speaker 1: With that when you talk to families and you do
9:48
Speaker 1: outreach and education, and I think once again we can
9:51
Speaker 1: both agree, Kurt, that it starts at home. How are
9:53
Speaker 1: we getting the message to the parents to talk to
9:56
Speaker 1: their kids about this.
9:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question.
10:00
Speaker 2: Parents are one of our key audiences and they need
10:03
Speaker 2: to be right if just for the fact that studies
10:06
Speaker 2: have shown time and time again that parents play a
10:09
Speaker 2: crucial role when and if their kids drink alcohol. And
10:13
Speaker 2: make no mistake that they're getting alcohol. I mean, I
10:15
Speaker 2: mean in this country, twenty five percent of eight fifteen
10:21
Speaker 2: to twenty year rolls involved in traffic crashes had been drinking.
10:25
Speaker 3: Thirty percent were.
10:26
Speaker 2: Legally drunk, so an adult ratio point zero eight or above.
10:30
Speaker 2: So make no mistake about it that they're absolutely finding
10:33
Speaker 2: the ways to get alcohol. But again, parents play an
10:35
Speaker 2: integal role when and if their children drink alcohol. What
10:38
Speaker 2: we annually do is just simply try to give that
10:40
Speaker 2: information that's meant to reinforce parents' efforts to foster a
10:44
Speaker 2: healthy and safe community or healthy and safe year for
10:47
Speaker 2: them and their teenage children. We do this through a
10:50
Speaker 2: number of means. One is we do the same program
10:52
Speaker 2: that we do about our youth outreach. We do it
10:54
Speaker 2: for parents. We've done it for PTOs. We annually publish
10:58
Speaker 2: our tips for how parents can help prevent underage drinking
11:03
Speaker 2: because again we make sure that they're you know, they
11:06
Speaker 2: know their rule is crucial. And your daughter and your
11:08
Speaker 2: was it your son or your daughter? My daughter?
11:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, my daughter out old twenty three yeah, yeah.
11:14
Speaker 2: So that age is even more of a challenge for us,
11:16
Speaker 2: and that's one of the reasons that we for the
11:18
Speaker 2: last twenty four years have held heralded a program called
11:23
Speaker 2: Drive Sober, Get pulled Over. It used to be called
11:25
Speaker 2: check one Strikeforce in Virginia where we are doing nothing
11:28
Speaker 2: but targeting twenty one thirty five year olds, so that
11:32
Speaker 2: you know your daughter is in the middle of that.
11:36
Speaker 2: And it's a group that is overrepresented in fatal Carno crashes,
11:39
Speaker 2: hre alcohol is a factor. It's a group that is
11:43
Speaker 2: that has the highest BAC level. So if you think
11:45
Speaker 2: of been like a bell curve on top of that
11:47
Speaker 2: bell curve and these risks taking twenty one thirty five
11:49
Speaker 2: year olds and unfortunately for us, it's a group that's
11:52
Speaker 2: provenly resistant to run of the middle PSA campaigns, and
11:55
Speaker 2: so we've had a very carrot approach in this campaign
11:58
Speaker 2: of late, and the more recent game of this campaign
12:01
Speaker 2: has been what's the damage to focus on the economic
12:03
Speaker 2: costs of a DUI, which you know DC Maryland Virginia
12:07
Speaker 2: law is different, but as a whole, I mean, for
12:10
Speaker 2: your first defense, you're looking it up to twenty five
12:12
Speaker 2: hundred dollars in finings, up to a year in jail,
12:15
Speaker 2: and having your license taken away for a year. In addition, DC, Maryland,
12:19
Speaker 2: Virginia are all localities that if you do get convicted
12:21
Speaker 2: of a DUI, it doesn't matter whether you're first or
12:24
Speaker 2: thirty first, and it doesn't matter whether you're twenty one
12:26
Speaker 2: or seventy one. You're going to have to install these
12:29
Speaker 2: in car breathalyzers that you and I have talked about
12:31
Speaker 2: in the past, otherwise known as ignition analog devices that
12:34
Speaker 2: will prevent you or anybody from opering your car if
12:37
Speaker 2: its senses that the driver's been drinking. But in closing
12:40
Speaker 2: that audience, the bridge that we're trying to divide is
12:45
Speaker 2: that when we annually do a study or survey of
12:48
Speaker 2: twenty one to thirty five year old drivers in Virginia,
12:52
Speaker 2: and when we did it in August of this year,
12:53
Speaker 2: ninety six percent we did one thousand Virginia young drivers,
12:57
Speaker 2: ninety six percent said it was very important to plan
13:00
Speaker 2: a safe at home before an evening of drinking. Yeah,
13:02
Speaker 2: but only sixty nine regularly do, so it's closing that
13:06
Speaker 2: de Bay.
13:07
Speaker 1: Well, that's great. It's still staggering though, that difference in
13:09
Speaker 1: between you know, the plan and what you actually do
13:12
Speaker 1: and execute. And you know, I imagine you know a
13:15
Speaker 1: lot of parents have done this. I've told my daughter
13:17
Speaker 1: along with my wife, will pay for the ride share.
13:20
Speaker 1: We will take care of that. Even if you have
13:22
Speaker 1: people with you, we just don't want you getting behind
13:24
Speaker 1: the wheel. And I think you know as much as
13:27
Speaker 1: we install that she still had that question. She said,
13:29
Speaker 1: even if I have like a half a beer or
13:31
Speaker 1: maybe a glass of wine, and I say absolutely. I said,
13:34
Speaker 1: the one thing that you can do is that if
13:37
Speaker 1: you get behind the wheel with any alcohol in your body,
13:39
Speaker 1: that just changes the whole dynamics of everything. And I
13:42
Speaker 1: think that's kind of the message that you're also trying
13:44
Speaker 1: to get across too with your people. And when we
13:46
Speaker 1: talked to different police officers in this series, Curt then, yeah,
13:50
Speaker 1: drinking and driving and if you have multiple drinks a
13:52
Speaker 1: giant no no. When you've talked about the repercussions of
13:55
Speaker 1: the ugliness that can happen to you and staying on
13:58
Speaker 1: the record for the rest of your life, folks, which
13:59
Speaker 1: is brutal, but having any alcohol on your breath, it's
14:03
Speaker 1: just it's a no go. It's a non starter for
14:06
Speaker 1: me as.
14:06
Speaker 3: A parent, you know. I think that's I think that's
14:09
Speaker 3: very well said. Just for the fact that I.
14:11
Speaker 2: Think if people realize that that the district, Maryland and
14:14
Speaker 2: Virginia all have zero towns laws and making it illegal
14:17
Speaker 2: to consume, to possess, to purchase alcohol if you're under
14:21
Speaker 2: the age of twenty one, and there's certain liabilities I
14:23
Speaker 2: mean for parents, and parents might think that, hey, look,
14:27
Speaker 2: my kids are going to drink, so let me allow
14:29
Speaker 2: them to do it at my house, which I guess.
14:31
Speaker 3: The heart is in the right place, but the brain isn't.
14:33
Speaker 2: For the fact that in most cases it's actually unlawful
14:36
Speaker 2: for parents to allow their children's friends to consume alcohol
14:39
Speaker 2: in their home, and parents are adults may face chargers
14:42
Speaker 2: layer on if these same friends are involved in a crash.
14:46
Speaker 2: There's some significant liabilities there.
14:47
Speaker 4: By the way, one of the things that's interesting, I
14:49
Speaker 4: think Virginia is unique in the DMV about this that
14:53
Speaker 4: if you if you are under eighteen, and because you
14:55
Speaker 4: said twice about alcohol in your breath, that if you
14:59
Speaker 4: are under eighteen, you tested with virtually any amount of alcohol.
15:02
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about the point of eight you have
15:04
Speaker 2: point zero two blood alcohol concentration. You're under eighteen, you're driving.
15:09
Speaker 2: The penalty, not up to the mandatory minimum penalty is
15:14
Speaker 2: losing your license for a year.
15:17
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.
15:17
Speaker 2: And to bring that up, because you know, nobody wants
15:20
Speaker 2: to jail teams finds too often are taken care of
15:24
Speaker 2: by parents that strike a check. But you know, there's
15:27
Speaker 2: not there's not a seventeen year old planet that wants
15:29
Speaker 2: his mother take them on a date or drive him
15:32
Speaker 2: on a date. And so that drivers that driver's license
15:35
Speaker 2: sanction is so key, and it's one of the things
15:39
Speaker 2: that really distinguishes some of Virginia's anti underage drinking efforts.
15:42
Speaker 1: Well, hopefully we've scared some people straight, Thankscem exactly. You know,
15:47
Speaker 1: one of the other things that I have learned talking
15:49
Speaker 1: to you in different officers over the last several years
15:52
Speaker 1: in this program as we've had you on is in
15:54
Speaker 1: now prescription drugs and THC marijuana are part of the
15:59
Speaker 1: duy checks with a lot of different stops out there,
16:03
Speaker 1: and we've talked about this in the DMV. They're happening
16:05
Speaker 1: right now, and I imagine they're happening around the country.
16:08
Speaker 2: Now.
16:08
Speaker 1: I realize that there's not the proper technology, but I
16:13
Speaker 1: know that police officers are being trained to look for
16:15
Speaker 1: also prescription and also marijuana use from drivers, which can
16:21
Speaker 1: be illegal. Can you go into a little bit more detail,
16:23
Speaker 1: because I think we're going to strike a corpate listener. Say,
16:26
Speaker 1: I had no idea that if I take prescription drugs
16:30
Speaker 1: and get high behind the wheel or marijuana use, I
16:32
Speaker 1: didn't know that I could get busted for that. Can
16:34
Speaker 1: you kind of educate our listeners about that. Yeah.
16:37
Speaker 2: The short version is that impaired driving is impaired driving.
16:40
Speaker 2: So whether you are impaired by a prescription, whether you're
16:44
Speaker 2: impaired by illicit drugs, whether you're impaired by alcohol, it's
16:48
Speaker 2: really all it's all the same. And with the increasing
16:51
Speaker 2: legalization of recreational marijuana use, specifically in the DMV, one
16:55
Speaker 2: thing that we're constantly having to underscore is that marijuana
16:58
Speaker 2: use is impairing. It decreases motor coordination, It slows reaction time,
17:04
Speaker 2: and impairs judgment of time and distance, all of which
17:06
Speaker 2: are critical for driving and the fact that people don't
17:10
Speaker 2: think that it is the law. It is actually driving
17:12
Speaker 2: while impaired is unsafe and illegal in all US states,
17:18
Speaker 2: and that driving under the influence of marijuana specifically is
17:20
Speaker 2: dangerous for all drivers, but teams are especially vulnerable because
17:24
Speaker 2: their limited driving experiences. So you marry those two together,
17:26
Speaker 2: you've got a limited experienced driver. Then you put in
17:29
Speaker 2: a foreign substance in terms of THC in cannabis, you're really,
17:35
Speaker 2: you know, rating a habit. And what we're finding out too,
17:39
Speaker 2: is that in the majority of cases where they test
17:41
Speaker 2: beyond alcohol, the majority of persons that are rested for
17:44
Speaker 2: drunk driving or excuse me, impaired driving are indeed poly users,
17:48
Speaker 2: meaning that they'll have multiple substances in their systems. It's
17:51
Speaker 2: more often than not cannabis and alcohol, but it's certainly
17:55
Speaker 2: not limited to that. And in fact, Maryland's code is
18:00
Speaker 2: I don't know, wich I know what the word was
18:01
Speaker 2: for vipercated is two whatever the one is by four
18:05
Speaker 2: they actually have four different sections. So it's being impaired
18:09
Speaker 2: by alcohol, under the influence of alcohol, being impaired by drugs,
18:12
Speaker 2: and being impaired by illicit drugs. All of those have
18:15
Speaker 2: distinct penalties. So this is probably reson Neue issue in
18:20
Speaker 2: the fact that it's getting a lot more increasing attention.
18:23
Speaker 2: But the fact of the matter is it's long been
18:25
Speaker 2: an issue.
18:25
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about technology because for anybody
18:28
Speaker 1: that watches TikTok, we see it on there, and then
18:30
Speaker 1: if you watched a TV show or a movie, we
18:33
Speaker 1: see how people are pulled over. They go through a
18:35
Speaker 1: DUI check. Sometimes there is a field sobriety tests that
18:39
Speaker 1: they do, and then some people are meant to blow
18:42
Speaker 1: in to see if they are over the alcohol limit.
18:44
Speaker 1: When it comes to prescription drugs and mainly more THC
18:47
Speaker 1: and marijuana use, are they talking about technology for doing
18:51
Speaker 1: the same kind of thing actually on the field at
18:53
Speaker 1: a deuy spot. Are we getting close to that happening yet?
18:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a great question, and we are in fact,
18:59
Speaker 2: whether it's through saliva task or fluid testing. Obviously one
19:04
Speaker 2: of the gold standards is blood testing. It's a little
19:06
Speaker 2: bit more invasive. But the fact of the matter is
19:08
Speaker 2: that that technology has come a long way in a
19:12
Speaker 2: separt in fact, so much so that it's now irrefutable.
19:15
Speaker 2: You know, it has to be somewhat debated you know
19:17
Speaker 2: the efficacy of blood alcohol concentration tests, that's not even
19:21
Speaker 2: argued the fact anymore.
19:22
Speaker 3: These are so highly calibrated.
19:25
Speaker 2: And again in a checkpoint, this is where you know
19:29
Speaker 2: your eyes are open in terms of things, because in
19:31
Speaker 2: a checkpoint, you're not necessarily pulling over for a problemo
19:34
Speaker 2: cause because you're going you know, slowly through a checkpoint.
19:38
Speaker 2: But boyet these are done well. Sorority checkpoints can reduce
19:42
Speaker 2: traffic fatalities by as much as twenty percent.
19:44
Speaker 3: By the way, that's not my opinion.
19:46
Speaker 2: It's the efficacy of these that were studied by the
19:49
Speaker 2: insurances too for highway safety that talked about how effective
19:53
Speaker 2: a well run checkpoint can be. So they are a
19:56
Speaker 2: key tool of combating drug driving.
19:59
Speaker 1: Kurt, we had mentioned that you work with many municipalities
20:01
Speaker 1: out there in the DMV. I'm curious, just for educational purposes,
20:05
Speaker 1: when they look at all the data and your data
20:07
Speaker 1: as well, about where they put checkpoints. And I imagine
20:10
Speaker 1: they moved them as the data moves out there, but
20:12
Speaker 1: they probably have some main spots that they always put
20:15
Speaker 1: these duy stops. How do they actually choose them?
20:19
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's a great question.
20:21
Speaker 2: So that usually are high incidents areas, so it could
20:25
Speaker 2: be streets that have been known to have a number
20:27
Speaker 2: of Duy incidents, whether those be arrest crashes or what
20:30
Speaker 2: have you.
20:31
Speaker 3: But it's always sometimes.
20:32
Speaker 2: Surprising the fact that people think it's an urban crime
20:34
Speaker 2: when it's pretty much equal at least nationally. That's somewhat
20:37
Speaker 2: changed recently. So you'll also see rural ers. Sometimes people
20:41
Speaker 2: think that going in a rural readly home will be
20:43
Speaker 2: their escape route.
20:45
Speaker 3: Not going by a checkpoint.
20:46
Speaker 2: And sometimes they're very creative and the fact that they're
20:50
Speaker 2: set up not just in the typical times.
20:52
Speaker 3: I mean, well, DUI has so many stereotypes.
20:54
Speaker 2: The majority of DUI incidents happen on the weekends, they
20:58
Speaker 2: happen at night. But police are smart enough where they've
21:02
Speaker 2: done happy our checkpoints or they do phantom checkpoints where
21:06
Speaker 2: they're setting one up in one section of town and
21:08
Speaker 2: that gets viral attention, where people are communicating through social
21:12
Speaker 2: meanings and otherwise here's a checkpoint, when in fact the
21:14
Speaker 2: real checkpoint is somewhere else and so forth. So again,
21:17
Speaker 2: a checkpoint, however, is not just the You're not just
21:20
Speaker 2: affecting the persons that go through it. You're affecting the
21:23
Speaker 2: you're trying to have behavioral modification of people that know
21:26
Speaker 2: about it. The best example of that is Fairfrix County
21:29
Speaker 2: Police as an example, that rarely do monthly checkpoints. They'll count,
21:33
Speaker 2: as anybody does, the number of cars going through it,
21:36
Speaker 2: but they'll also lay wires against traffic going the opposite way,
21:40
Speaker 2: and they're counting that against, you know, their afficacy because
21:44
Speaker 2: they're trying to tell people, oh my gosh, there's a
21:46
Speaker 2: checkpoint out there, I need to, you know, make a
21:48
Speaker 2: safe make a plan for a saint right home again,
21:51
Speaker 2: whether it's be using public transportation or ride share or
21:55
Speaker 2: taxi cabs or.
21:57
Speaker 3: A sober driver.
21:58
Speaker 1: I probably have asked you this before, but once again,
22:00
Speaker 1: it's educating a lot of our new listeners who are
22:03
Speaker 1: just past Thanksgiving now as this interview airs on this Sunday.
22:06
Speaker 1: But we do have the Christmas, Honikah holidays coming up.
22:10
Speaker 1: We talked about Halloween. There is New Year's Eve, there
22:14
Speaker 1: is fourth of July. Probably a couple other holidays are
22:16
Speaker 1: Saint Patrick say, you and I have talked about before
22:18
Speaker 1: leading up to that. Has there been a holiday in
22:21
Speaker 1: the DMV When it comes to the data that's more
22:23
Speaker 1: prevalent to having DUIs or is it just all over
22:26
Speaker 1: the place year to year.
22:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a good question.
22:28
Speaker 2: So for the Christmas PAIRD specifically, so I think n
22:31
Speaker 2: it's the National Haymber Traffic Safetydministration podcast that makes that.
22:34
Speaker 2: From like Christmas Eve through about New Year's it's thirty
22:38
Speaker 2: seven percent of all traffic deaths in this country at
22:41
Speaker 2: least according to twenty twenty three figures or involved from drivers.
22:44
Speaker 2: In fact, the only other holiday and that's greater than
22:46
Speaker 2: that percentage wise, is Memorial Day, when you have thirty
22:49
Speaker 2: nine percent.
22:50
Speaker 3: But this is.
22:51
Speaker 2: Roughly more than you know, than roughly the thirty two
22:54
Speaker 2: percent that it's any given time of the year. So
22:55
Speaker 2: it's a it's a significant uptack. And I bring this
22:58
Speaker 2: up because it's not just you and I are aware
23:00
Speaker 2: about it and we're discussing it. Law enforcement are aware
23:02
Speaker 2: of it discussing it. So that's when they ramp up
23:04
Speaker 2: activities to identify and appriand drunk drivers. And again through
23:08
Speaker 2: the Drive Sober aget Pulled Over campaign that we run
23:10
Speaker 2: in Virginia, we're going to be issuing the number of
23:14
Speaker 2: law enforcement agencies that are going to be involved in
23:16
Speaker 2: the second when we did it in August, there's nearly
23:19
Speaker 2: two hundred Virginia law enforcement agencies that during the Labor
23:22
Speaker 2: Day period they conducted I think it was over seven
23:25
Speaker 2: hundred individual as saturation patrols in eighty six sobriety checkpoints
23:29
Speaker 2: again as a means of identifying and appriand drunk drivers.
23:32
Speaker 3: So it's not just when you hear a holiday that oh.
23:34
Speaker 2: This increased percentage of likelihood of drum driving incidents, is
23:38
Speaker 2: that law enforcement are ready for that.
23:40
Speaker 1: Well, speaking of law enforcement, coming up on December twelfth,
23:44
Speaker 1: at eight thirty to ten thirty, you've got a big
23:46
Speaker 1: event coming up in his wraps, twenty eighth Annual Law
23:48
Speaker 1: Enforcement Awards and holiday Sober Right Campaign kickoff. I know
23:52
Speaker 1: this is a big deal because you're acknowledging law enforcement
23:55
Speaker 1: who is so big in this and does so many
23:57
Speaker 1: incredible selfless things out there. But also the the actual
24:00
Speaker 1: Sober Right camping kickoff too, which is a big deal.
24:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, So this is it's going to be a new
24:05
Speaker 2: location for us. So it's on December twelve, which is
24:08
Speaker 2: a Friday morning. It's actually going to be in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
24:12
Speaker 2: We're honored to have the Maryland Lieutenant Governor Rona Miller
24:15
Speaker 2: as our speaker, which we're delighted with.
24:18
Speaker 3: But it's an opportunity for us.
24:19
Speaker 2: To annually honor area law enforcement officers for their work
24:23
Speaker 2: and impair driving prevention. So on that day we'll actually
24:26
Speaker 2: be honoring eighteen law enforcement officers that are nominated by
24:29
Speaker 2: their chiefs or their sheriff around the Beltway for their
24:34
Speaker 2: efforts to serve. Really it's the front lines and the
24:36
Speaker 2: fight against from driving. You know, we talk a lot
24:38
Speaker 2: about RAPS programs and sober ide, make no mistake about it,
24:41
Speaker 2: it's the men and women in uniform that are serving
24:43
Speaker 2: as the front lines and this effort. So the least
24:45
Speaker 2: that we can do is to honor them. And so
24:48
Speaker 2: they get plaques which maybe they they're being stacked on
24:52
Speaker 2: their desks, but they also get the accolydes from a
24:55
Speaker 2: two hundred person road that gets to hear about the
24:58
Speaker 2: work they've done. They also get wh Nationals tigts what's
25:01
Speaker 2: the washing Nationals kindly provide for the twenty twenty six season,
25:04
Speaker 2: and then Glory Days, Grill buys them dinner, which is
25:07
Speaker 2: a really a nice effort just to again say thank
25:09
Speaker 2: you for for they're really herald enough outstanding.
25:12
Speaker 1: That sounds like a great time. I did want to
25:14
Speaker 1: ask you because so many listeners have asked me when
25:17
Speaker 1: I've had you in the program that you never talked
25:20
Speaker 1: about donations and how does Curtin wrap? How are they funded?
25:23
Speaker 1: And you know you and I haven't talked about that
25:25
Speaker 1: a lot, but I'd love to ask about how you're
25:27
Speaker 1: funded and can people donate money, advocate, volunteer or anything
25:31
Speaker 1: to help out RAP. Can you kind of address that.
25:34
Speaker 2: For us absolutely? First of all, I understand that we
25:37
Speaker 2: are two things. We Wrap is a five o' one
25:40
Speaker 2: C three charity, which means that all donations to Honest
25:42
Speaker 2: are fully tax deductible as allowed by law. Two is
25:47
Speaker 2: that even though I think we give the presents, I
25:49
Speaker 2: kind of view it like the Don't Book, behind the
25:51
Speaker 2: curtain of you know, a very larger organization. I think
25:54
Speaker 2: Subriide has become so institutionalized that I think people think
25:57
Speaker 2: that it's some big, phaseless government behind the scenes pulling
26:01
Speaker 2: the levers one. In fact, it's a three person charitable
26:04
Speaker 2: organization that keeps this program going and that annually strikes
26:07
Speaker 2: a check for strokesure check for seventy eighty thousand dollars
26:11
Speaker 2: just on fares a loan for that program. But being
26:14
Speaker 2: a Fogle and C three, people can donate to us
26:16
Speaker 2: directly and we're really easy. I can't give you an
26:18
Speaker 2: easier website than wrap dot org. So it's wr AP
26:22
Speaker 2: stands for the Washington Regional Alcohol Program wrapped dot org.
26:27
Speaker 2: You can go there and on the very first page
26:30
Speaker 2: tells you how to maxi taxiductible donation through PayPal. You
26:33
Speaker 2: don't have to have a PayPal account, it's just you
26:35
Speaker 2: can do it.
26:35
Speaker 3: By credit card. We would welcome that support.
26:38
Speaker 2: Help.
26:38
Speaker 3: We're generally funded.
26:39
Speaker 2: In general is public support general business, and then are
26:42
Speaker 2: public partners, so from the DC Highway Safety Office, the
26:47
Speaker 2: Maryland high Wey Safety Office, and the Virginia Department or
26:49
Speaker 2: Motor Vehicles are our key public partners. But then if
26:52
Speaker 2: you look at any of our sub right materials, you'll
26:54
Speaker 2: see a number of private encities that are involved in
26:57
Speaker 2: this effort as well.
26:58
Speaker 3: So whether it be Enterprise.
26:59
Speaker 2: Run a Car, or the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility
27:02
Speaker 2: or the Chessbeak Region Safety Counsel and others that have
27:05
Speaker 2: joined in this effort to knowing that you know, Joe
27:08
Speaker 2: driving is one hundred percent preventable.
27:10
Speaker 3: What can we do to create a safety.
27:13
Speaker 2: Net, especially during this high risk, high alcohol consumption periods.
27:16
Speaker 1: Kurt, I only have two minutes left, so I want
27:18
Speaker 1: to do this. I want to let you know and
27:20
Speaker 1: let the listeners know how to actually activate sober ride anytime,
27:24
Speaker 1: but especially during the holidays, how they can do that,
27:27
Speaker 1: and then just get some final thoughts from you. So
27:29
Speaker 1: the floor is yours.
27:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, So when we do this program at anytime during
27:33
Speaker 2: the year, and we do it on six times during
27:34
Speaker 2: the year, where we actually are offering people a free
27:37
Speaker 2: safe right home through our lift partnership LAFT, which is
27:41
Speaker 2: our right share partner, and all people need to do
27:43
Speaker 2: is to go to sober ride dot com. So we
27:45
Speaker 2: mentioned one website, wrapp dot org. But then sober Ride
27:49
Speaker 2: s O b e r ride dot com. At any
27:52
Speaker 2: of those holidays you go there, We're going to publish
27:55
Speaker 2: a code.
27:55
Speaker 3: You simply put that code into.
27:57
Speaker 2: Your left app if you don't already have Lift downloaded
27:59
Speaker 2: to your FOE, do that, but then enter the sober
28:02
Speaker 2: ride code and the apps payment tab and it pays
28:05
Speaker 2: for up to a fifteen dollars fare during any of
28:08
Speaker 2: this given holidays. Just so you know, and I think Dennis,
28:11
Speaker 2: you and I have talked about it more that the
28:12
Speaker 2: average fare for this program is less than fifteen dollars.
28:15
Speaker 2: It really does capture the majority of people home. But
28:18
Speaker 2: even if you're a fair is twenty, we'll still play
28:20
Speaker 2: you from the first fifteen. So you do that, you
28:22
Speaker 2: put that into your code into your phone, and it'll
28:25
Speaker 2: be We'll actually be publishing two different codes this year.
28:28
Speaker 2: One on December nineteen, which is the first round of
28:31
Speaker 2: sober id that we'll be offering through New Year's and
28:33
Speaker 2: then of course New Year's which is always a huge
28:35
Speaker 2: night for us, on December thirty. First, we'll be publishing
28:39
Speaker 2: the code again on silbroad dot com. That'll be a
28:41
Speaker 2: second code just for use that evening, which I think
28:45
Speaker 2: we did over eleven hundred rides last New Year, So
28:48
Speaker 2: we're anticipating at least those numbers, especially with the Halloween
28:51
Speaker 2: numbers that we talked about recently.
28:53
Speaker 1: Right any you were saying at the top our interview,
28:55
Speaker 1: at least the numbers are going up with people using
28:57
Speaker 1: sober Ride, which is encouraging and that you're making a difference.
29:00
Speaker 3: But the program is only as good as a number
29:02
Speaker 3: of people that use.
29:03
Speaker 2: It and the number of incidents that were hopefully deterring
29:07
Speaker 2: in terms of drunk driving around it Again, when you've
29:09
Speaker 2: had ninety nine thousand people utilize this program rather than
29:12
Speaker 2: driving home and paid of God and believe it it's
29:15
Speaker 2: contributing at least to the Greater Washing area being below
29:18
Speaker 2: the national average of all traffic deaths that involved from drivers.
29:22
Speaker 2: And the fact that we're positively below that national average
29:25
Speaker 2: in a good way.
29:25
Speaker 1: Let's give the website one more time card yep SO.
29:29
Speaker 3: Washington Regional outcol Program.
29:30
Speaker 2: It's abbreviated of wrap so wrapped dot order will tell
29:33
Speaker 2: you about any of the programs that we discussed and
29:34
Speaker 2: by the way, the school based program, you workplace program,
29:37
Speaker 2: sober ride or all free and if you just want
29:39
Speaker 2: to know about the free safe Right service that we're
29:41
Speaker 2: on various holidays including next month, So for the holidays Deceummer.
29:45
Speaker 3: Nineteenth through January first, you can go to sober.
29:48
Speaker 2: Ride dot com so b e r r Ide dot com.
29:52
Speaker 3: We'll tell you more about this local life saving program.
29:55
Speaker 1: Kurt's great to have you on the show again. Thank
29:56
Speaker 1: you so much. I really appreciate it.
29:58
Speaker 3: And that's happy holidays. Thanks for gonna song.