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Description
What's Happening Around Town
"Don't Drink and Drive" Segment
San Bruno Police Department
Sergeant Ryan Johansen
December 2016
B
Ryan
Johansen
I'm
a
sergeant
with
the
San
Bruno
Police,
Department
and
I'm,
currently
assigned
to
the
Traffic
Division,
so
I
supervise
all
things
traffic
within
the
city.
We
definitely
see
a
spike
in
driving
under
the
influence
and
impaired
driving
activities
through
the
holiday
season.
Unfortunately,
normally
there's
about
10,000
people
in
this
country
that
are
killed
by
DUI
every
year
and
we
can
normally
see
up
to
a
thousand
of
those
within
the
month
of
December
alone.
B
If
you
expand
that
timeframe
to
include
Thanksgiving
and
to
go
all
the
way
to
New
Year's
Day,
you
get
upwards
of
1,200
people
every
year
who
lose
their
lives
to
driving
under
the
influence
within
that
time
frame,
so
definite
spike
in
activity
during
this
window
during
the
holiday
season,
you
see
a
big
increase
in
certain
activities
that
contribute
to
the
DUI
problem.
First
of
all,
the
roadways
are
much
busier
with
traveling
people
so
as
we're
coming
and
going
from
seeing
friends
and
family
and
attending
holiday
festivities
and
parties.
B
Inevitably,
it
means
more
people
on
the
roads.
Now,
when
you
couple
that,
with
the
fact
that
the
celebrations
and
sort
of
the
nature,
this
time
of
year
also
creates
an
increase
in
the
consumption
of
alcohol,
you
sort
of
have
the
perfect
storm
for
some
unfortunate
incidents
on
the
roadways.
While
the
point
zero,
eight
blood
alcohol
content
percentage
is
the
limit
that
we
tend
to
reference
and
look
at
in
terms
of
when
we're
okay
to
drive
are
not
okay
to
drive
the
reality.
B
Is
the
law
states
and
cannot
operate
a
motor
vehicle
while
impaired
by
alcohol
or
other
substances?
So
you
don't
have
to
be
at
a
point:
zero,
eight
to
be
arrested
for
DUI
or
to
be
charged
with
a
crime.
If
you
hit
and
hurt
somebody
so
our
contention
in
law
enforcement
has
always
been
that
any
amount
of
alcohol
is
probably
too
much
to
consume
and
then
knowingly
drive
you.
B
If
you
get
pulled
over
by
the
police
and
you're
determined
to
be
driving
while
impaired
the
very
least,
you
can
count
on
us
to
wear
handcuffs,
sit
in
the
back
club,
police
car
and
end
up
going
to
either
jail
or
a
sobering
facility.
The
aftermath
of
that
is
going
to
include
fines
of
up
to
ten
thousand
dollars
of
your
hard-earned
money,
a
suspended
license
for
a
period
of
probably
at
least
a
year
and
now
with
new
legislation,
the
placement
of
an
interlock
device
in
your
vehicle
for
an
indefinite
period
of
time.
B
So,
even
if
you
don't
hurt
someone
or
yourself
you're,
still
looking
at
some
pretty
severe
consequences
to
being
DUI
and
caught
god
forbid,
you
should
hurt
someone
while
driving
impaired.
There's
a
high
likelihood
are
going
to
be
charged
with
a
felony
crime
which
is
going
to
follow
you
along
for
the
rest
of
your
life.
One
thing:
that's
really
kind
of
exciting
about
trying
to
combat
DUI
in
today's
environment
is
that
we
have
a
multitude
of
alternative
options
to
driving
impaired
things
that
didn't
exist
even
five
years
ago.
B
So
you
obviously
have
the
simple
ideas
of
designating
a
sober
driver,
calling
a
taxi
or
using
public
transit,
but
now
we've
added
to
the
alternatives
to
impaired
driving,
very
simple
and
easy
services
like
uber
and
lyft,
and
really
in
my
opinion,
this
puts
us
in
a
place
where
there's
no
excuse
for
driving
impaired.
It's
as
simple
as
pushing
a
few
buttons
on
your
phone
to
arrange,
have
a
sober
and
safe
driver
pick
you
up
and
take
you
your
destination
without
taking
any
chance
of
hurting
somebody
or
ending
up
in
jail.
B
So
the
sanrio
police
department
is
well
aware
of
the
increase
in
DUI
activity
that
comes
with
the
holiday
season
and
we
respond
accordingly.
So,
in
addition
to
our
normal
patrol
activities,
which,
of
course,
patrol
officers
are
always
on
the
lookout
for
impaired
drivers
during
this
time
of
year,
we
will
also
engage
in
two
other
proactive
activities
in
an
effort
to
thwart
some
of
the
deal
stuff.
B
That's
going
on
so
among
those
will
be
what
we
call
DUI
saturation
patrols,
which
basically
constitutes
putting
out
one
or
more
officers
during
periods
of
time
when
we
know
there's
a
concentration
of
impaired
drivers
on
the
roadways,
with
the
specific
focus
of
identifying
and
apprehending
impaired
drivers
on
top
of
those
activities.
During
this
holiday
season,
we
will
host
at
least
one
DUI
checkpoint.
The
checkpoints
are
good
for
pulling
impaired
drivers
off
the
roads,
but
they
really
are
also
very
effective
in
terms
of
public
education.