By Melissa Patrick
Kentucky Health News
While telling a television reporter about his experience with an overdose victim in Lexington, Attorney General Andy Beshear said fewer people are charged with driving drunk in Kentucky than with driving drugged.
The available statistics don't support that specific claim, but national data indicate that drugs may be a greater problem than alcohol in traffic collisions and fatalities in the U.S.
Miranda Combs of WKYT-TV paraphrased Beshear as saying, "Today, there are more people arrested for driving under the influence of drugs in Kentucky than alcohol."
Like the rest of the nation, more Kentucky drivers than ever are driving under the influence of drugs, and the number of alcohol-related DUIs has decreased. However, in Kentucky, those caused by alcohol still outnumber those caused by drugs.
According to the Kentucky State Police, alcohol-involved DUI citations in Kentucky decreased 8 percent between 2015 and 2016, from 11,428 to 10,514. During the same period, drug-involved DUIs increased 12 percent, from 6,989 in 2015 to 7,812 in 2016.
So, in 2016, there were still 2,702 more alcohol-related DUIs than drug-related ones. (Total citation data are compiled only annually because reports from some local law-enforcement agencies are entered manually.)
The report also shows citations for DUIs that involved both alcohol and drugs. This number was about the same in 2015 and 2016: respectively, 1,749 and 1,794.
Samantha G. Lickliter, a KSP program coordinator who pulled the report for Kentucky Health News, said there may be some overlap in the data because it is up to the officer to decide how to record the citation. For example, she said some officers may have individually checked the alcohol and drug involved boxes if both were involved and the "both" box, which would make the same person be counted twice in the data.
Beshear's office did not provide any specific information to support his assertion, but did reference two press releases on the topic and referred Kentucky Health News to the University of Kentucky's Transportation Center.
The center's 2015 “Traffic Collision Facts” report also doesn't support the attorney general's claim. It says there were 4,217 collisions with alcohol involvement, 110 of them fatal; and 1,639 collisions with drug involvement, 34 of them were fatal. The figures are based on reports by the investigating officers at the time of the collisions.
A separate report looked at blood samples from those killed in collisions, and found 233 of the fatalities had a drug in their system. Jerry Pigman, a research engineer with the center, advised caution when citing this number related to DUIs because "There are numerous drugs detected without a known level of what constitutes impairment.”
Pigman said the center will conduct research on the differences in reported levels of drug involvement in fatal collisions beginning Oct. 1, with the finished report due Sept. 30, 2018.
Research shows that drugged driving is increasing nationwide, just as it is in Kentucky, and that broadly defined, driving drugged may be more common than driving drunk.
The latest version of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers found that the number with alcohol in their system has declined by nearly one-third since 2007, and by more than three-quarters since 1973. But it also found a large increase in the number of drivers with at least one drug that could affect safety in their system.
The 2014 roadside survey, which is voluntary and anonymous, found that 30 percent of drivers tested positive for alcohol in 2007, but only 8 percent did in 2007.
In the same period, the share of drivers with drugs in their systems rose from 16 percent to 20 percent, and the number with marijuana in their system rose by half.
This report also cautions that "drug presence does not equal impairment," noting that some drugs linger in the body long after their impairing effects on driving have passed.
A separate report found that positive drug tests were more common than positive alcohol tests among fatally injured drivers in 2015.
The Governors Highway Safety Association and Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility report released in April found that of those tested, drugs were present in 43 percent of the motorists who died, while alcohol was present in 37 percent.
Beshear shared the same story he shared with WKYT at the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky's Howard L. Bost Memorial Policy Forum in Lexington Sept. 25.
Beshear told the group that he and cyber-crimes investigator Josh Keats, who is also a paramedic, were sitting in a traffic jam at about 3 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon in Lexington a few weeks ago when they saw someone jump out of a car and start beating on the window of the car next to them. They were about six cars back.
"And as we turned on our lights and rushed over, he was turning blue, he then started turning purple and as Josh will tell you, the next color is death,” Beshear said. “The person in that car had just overdosed on carfentanil.”
Carfentanil is used as an elephant tranquillizer and is 100 times as strong as fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin.
Beshear said he and Keats “wrestled him from the car” to the street and were grateful that the police showed up with a life-saving drug that reverses opioid overdoses.
“Thank God,” he said. “Lexington police showed up in time with Narcan . . . and we were able to revive him.”
He added, "It shows you that if this isn't just the single greatest moral challenge of our time, not only was his life in danger, but he was operating a motor vehicle. Your life was in danger too.”
Kentucky Health News
While telling a television reporter about his experience with an overdose victim in Lexington, Attorney General Andy Beshear said fewer people are charged with driving drunk in Kentucky than with driving drugged.
The available statistics don't support that specific claim, but national data indicate that drugs may be a greater problem than alcohol in traffic collisions and fatalities in the U.S.
Miranda Combs of WKYT-TV paraphrased Beshear as saying, "Today, there are more people arrested for driving under the influence of drugs in Kentucky than alcohol."
Like the rest of the nation, more Kentucky drivers than ever are driving under the influence of drugs, and the number of alcohol-related DUIs has decreased. However, in Kentucky, those caused by alcohol still outnumber those caused by drugs.
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| Kentucky State Police data |
So, in 2016, there were still 2,702 more alcohol-related DUIs than drug-related ones. (Total citation data are compiled only annually because reports from some local law-enforcement agencies are entered manually.)
The report also shows citations for DUIs that involved both alcohol and drugs. This number was about the same in 2015 and 2016: respectively, 1,749 and 1,794.
Samantha G. Lickliter, a KSP program coordinator who pulled the report for Kentucky Health News, said there may be some overlap in the data because it is up to the officer to decide how to record the citation. For example, she said some officers may have individually checked the alcohol and drug involved boxes if both were involved and the "both" box, which would make the same person be counted twice in the data.
Beshear's office did not provide any specific information to support his assertion, but did reference two press releases on the topic and referred Kentucky Health News to the University of Kentucky's Transportation Center.
The center's 2015 “Traffic Collision Facts” report also doesn't support the attorney general's claim. It says there were 4,217 collisions with alcohol involvement, 110 of them fatal; and 1,639 collisions with drug involvement, 34 of them were fatal. The figures are based on reports by the investigating officers at the time of the collisions.
A separate report looked at blood samples from those killed in collisions, and found 233 of the fatalities had a drug in their system. Jerry Pigman, a research engineer with the center, advised caution when citing this number related to DUIs because "There are numerous drugs detected without a known level of what constitutes impairment.”
Pigman said the center will conduct research on the differences in reported levels of drug involvement in fatal collisions beginning Oct. 1, with the finished report due Sept. 30, 2018.
Research shows that drugged driving is increasing nationwide, just as it is in Kentucky, and that broadly defined, driving drugged may be more common than driving drunk.
The latest version of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Roadside Survey of Alcohol and Drug Use by Drivers found that the number with alcohol in their system has declined by nearly one-third since 2007, and by more than three-quarters since 1973. But it also found a large increase in the number of drivers with at least one drug that could affect safety in their system.
The 2014 roadside survey, which is voluntary and anonymous, found that 30 percent of drivers tested positive for alcohol in 2007, but only 8 percent did in 2007.
In the same period, the share of drivers with drugs in their systems rose from 16 percent to 20 percent, and the number with marijuana in their system rose by half.
This report also cautions that "drug presence does not equal impairment," noting that some drugs linger in the body long after their impairing effects on driving have passed.
A separate report found that positive drug tests were more common than positive alcohol tests among fatally injured drivers in 2015.
The Governors Highway Safety Association and Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility report released in April found that of those tested, drugs were present in 43 percent of the motorists who died, while alcohol was present in 37 percent.
Beshear shared the same story he shared with WKYT at the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky's Howard L. Bost Memorial Policy Forum in Lexington Sept. 25.
Beshear told the group that he and cyber-crimes investigator Josh Keats, who is also a paramedic, were sitting in a traffic jam at about 3 o'clock on a Thursday afternoon in Lexington a few weeks ago when they saw someone jump out of a car and start beating on the window of the car next to them. They were about six cars back.
"And as we turned on our lights and rushed over, he was turning blue, he then started turning purple and as Josh will tell you, the next color is death,” Beshear said. “The person in that car had just overdosed on carfentanil.”
Carfentanil is used as an elephant tranquillizer and is 100 times as strong as fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is up to 50 times stronger than heroin.
Beshear said he and Keats “wrestled him from the car” to the street and were grateful that the police showed up with a life-saving drug that reverses opioid overdoses.
“Thank God,” he said. “Lexington police showed up in time with Narcan . . . and we were able to revive him.”
He added, "It shows you that if this isn't just the single greatest moral challenge of our time, not only was his life in danger, but he was operating a motor vehicle. Your life was in danger too.”
In an effort to to educate prosecutors and law enforcement officials on the detection, apprehension and prosecution of drugged drivers, Beshear's office, the Governor's Office of Highway Safety and the Unified Prosecutorial System held a three day training in April. Beshear was recognized last year by the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility with the 2016 Leadership Award for his work to fight drunk and underage drinking;
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