Spring Break
License and registration, please
Peter Clark
Daily Staff Writer
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"If you can't get a drunk driver on a night like this, you're just not trying," said Calvin Lewis, officer for the California Highway Patrol.
"On weekend nights, 2 a.m. is another commute hour, except instead of leaving work, people are leaving the bars," said Lewis' partner, Officer David Hinds.
Lewis and Hinds pull over a vehicle that made a wide right turn. Although their Breathalyzer is malfunctioning that night, they determine the driver of the vehicle is intoxicated after administering three different field sobriety tests, despite the driver's claim that he had only two beers. As Hinds puts handcuffs securely around the suspect's wrists on the shoulder of the freeway, Lewis stares blankly into the headlights of oncoming traffic.
"Insurance can replace a stolen vehicle, but a loved one killed by a drunk driver can't be recovered," Lewis said. "That's why we love this stuff."
After a $480,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, which started a program called Project Corridor, officers in the CHP, University Police Department and San Jose Police Department will be paid overtime to specifically look for drunk drivers on certain weekend nights.
"CHP usually has four to five cars in Santa Clara County, but tonight, because of Project Corridor, there are seven," Hinds said.
Coupled with increased police enforcement, Project Corridor also has an educational component to prevent people from drinking and driving, said Dana Hughes, the prevention education program coordinator at San Jose State University.
"People need to know about this because it's not that we want to arrest people, we want them not to drink and drive," Hughes said.
To educate students on the legal consequences of drunk driving, the prevention education program will host a mock Driving Under Influence trial on campus, which will consist of a real case, a real defendant and a real sentence. Everything will be real but instead of being held in a courtroom, the case will be held on campus, giving students a firsthand view of the proceedings, Hughes said.
Costs for a DUI conviction include fines and penalties of more than $1,000, mandatory alcohol education classes totaling approximately $375, attorneys with an average price tag of $2,500 and an automobile insurance premium increase of $2,200 a year for three years.
"I think people don't quite understand that a DUI could come out to something that is between $10,000 and $11,000," Hughes said.
This does not stop some students from continuing to drive after they have been drinking.
A 2002 SJSU student survey conducted by the preventive education program found that 20 percent of students reported they occasionally drive under the influence of alcohol, Hughes said.
"SJSU is a commuter school," Hughes said. "So, since some students don't live near the school they may be going to parties around here, drinking, then driving home."
Officers patrolling for DUI's have specific criteria they look for in motorists, Lewis said. Some of the most common mistakes drunk drivers commit behind the wheel are making turns with a wide radius, driving too fast or too slow, following other cars too closely and swerving.
"It's natural to swerve every once in a while," Hinds said. "But what we look for are people who overly correct themselves after they swerve."
After pulling over a suspected drunk driver, the officer will administer various field sobriety tests he or she can use to gauge the level of intoxication of the suspect.
Field sobriety tests include testing balance by asking the suspect to stand on one leg, close his or her eyes and count slowly out loud. Nystagmus, which occurs in the eyes after drinking alcohol and makes them appear glassy and lack the ability to smoothly pursue an object, is tested by having the suspect follow the officer's moving finger with his or her eyes. The suspect must tap his or her fingers against his or her thumb at an increasingly faster speed, counting one through four after each tap is completed tests manual dexterity.
The final test for a drunk driver is the use of a Breathalyzer, which determines the blood alcohol content of an individual. The suspect blows into the device, which looks like an asthma inhaler, and a digitized number appears on the side of the Breathalyzer - this is the person's blood alcohol content. It is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or more in California if one is 21 years or older. If under 21, it is illegal to have a blood alcohol level more than .01 percent.
If a suspect has a blood alcohol content of .08 percent, or is too drunk to be driving in the officer's opinion, the suspect will be arrested for allegedly driving under the influence and taken to the Alcohol Intoxication Bureau, where physical evidence, such as blood or urine samples, will be taken, deposited, held and sent to the crime lab for analysis the following day.
The San Jose Alcohol Intoxication Bureau is a non-descript building with 12 stationary stools and two bathroom stalls inside.
"On a hot summer night you can't find a seat in this place," Hinds said.
From the bureau the suspect is driven to jail, where fingerprints and mug shots are taken and a court date is set. The defendant is then held in a cell, or "drunk tank," for at least five hours or until sober, after which he or she is released.
A DUI is a misdemeanor, but if convicted and unable to pay the fines, jail time may be imposed by a court.
The DMV will suspend the convict's license for 30 days and the court will usually suspend the defendant's license for an average of four months, depending on if the suspect was cooperative with the police. In Santa Clara County, if a suspect refuses to take sobriety tests and is convicted by the court of a DUI, the defendant will lose his or her license for one year.
