AAMVA supports the implementation of the following practices by member jurisdictions to enhance roadway safety by combating incidents of driving while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs:
- Utilization of the AAMVA Ignition Interlock Program Best Practices Guide by jurisdiction members with administrative responsibility for their jurisdiction’s ignition interlock program.
- Support of 24/7 Programs to augment ignition interlock programs, or for use in lieu of ignition interlocks in areas more than 100 miles from the nearest certified ignition interlock service provider.
- A policy establishing impaired driving offenses as a top priority for enforcement and administrative sanctions.
- Utilization of crash data and analysis to determine impaired driving traffic crash patterns as defined by day, time, location and severity and commensurate deployment of impaired driving emphasis patrols.
- Implementation of training programs which continuously improve skills in detecting and apprehending impaired drivers. The training should include Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFST) and Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) for all officers with traffic law enforcement responsibilities and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) training for an adequate number of officers, increasing DRE availability for other officers when needed.
- Establishment of policies that streamline the processing of impaired drivers by simplifying and reducing paperwork to include development and implementation of electronic DUI forms and electronic search warrants for blood to expedite necessary evidence collection.
- Encouraging development of technology for use by law enforcement at roadside to quickly and reliably detect the presence of drugs in a suspect’s system (when drugs are present).
- Establishment of policies supporting timely pursuit of a search warrant for blood (electronic when possible) whenever a suspected impaired driver refuses to voluntarily submit to a breath or blood test.
- Adoption of law enforcement phlebotomy programs to expedite blood evidence collection, that adhere to best practices.
- Adoption of “implied consent laws” that make it a per se violation for any driver under the age of 21 to have an alcohol concentration of .02 percent or greater.
- Adoption of “zero tolerance” per se limits for drugs – only requiring prosecution prove the motor vehicle operator was “impaired to the slightest degree”.
- Adoption of laws to provide separate and distinct sanctions for alcohol- and drug-impaired driving could be applied individually or in combination to a single case.
- Jurisdictions should adopt enhanced penalties for multiple (poly-) drug use (including alcohol) while driving as the combination of alcohol and other drugs should be considered an aggravated offense.
- Utilization of sobriety checkpoints which meet the requirements of law.
- Passage of enabling sobriety checkpoint legislation in those jurisdictions where sobriety checkpoints are not allowed.