Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 12, 1993 TAG: 9307120085
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"There's a definite drop" in drunken driving, said Mark A. Perkins, a Fairfax County police officer known as "Dr. DWI" for his skill in spotting intoxicated motorists in the Mount Vernon area.
"There for a while on U.S. 1, you couldn't drive it without seeing a drunk. . . . Now, they're not out there like they used to be," Perkins said.
Police officers in the Washington area pulled over 25,076 drunken drivers in 1992, an 18.6 percent decrease from the 30,790 stopped in 1990, according to figures compiled from state and local agencies.
Nearly every jurisdiction in the area experienced declines in the last two years, from an 8.4 percent reduction in Howard County, Md., to 51.9 percent in Falls Church.
The number of people killed in alcohol-related crashes dropped from 160 in 1989 to 109 in 1991, the most recent year for which figures were available.
For the last decade, community education programs have made driving under the influence of alcohol less prevalent and less socially acceptable, police said. But as recently as 1990, area arrests for driving while intoxicated were still on the increase, they said.
After a decade of public awareness campaigns, the culture of designating a driver or catching a cab after drinking has become standard procedure for many people, experts say.
"People have really got that message," said Pam Beer, executive director of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program. "We've had all of that public awareness."
In bars and restaurants across the Washington area, the people serving the screwdrivers and beers said customers aren't drinking as much.
"From what I can tell, people are more concerned with that and using more caution," said Paul Moller, senior night manager at the Fish Market, a restaurant-bar in Old Town Alexandria.
At the Fish Market, servers go through a training program to teach them how to recognize when patrons have had too much.
But Beer fears that cuts in law enforcement budgets and increases in other types of police calls may signal that police are not paying as much attention to the issue.
"What that says to me is that departments are not as aggressive as they were three or four years ago," Beer said.
"I don't think anybody ought to be complacent," said Mike Brownlee, associate administrator of the highway safety agency. "That's still a whopping social problem. Nobody should declare victory and walk away from this."
by CNB