November 25, 2025 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow visits with Washington Regional Alcohol Program (WRAP), President, Kurt Erickson about the upcoming holidays related to drinking and driving, education, donations, the latest fatality statistics and their great partnership with SoberRide.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community d C.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
to the program Kurt Ericson. He is the president of
the Washington Regional Alcohol Program, also known as RAP. We'll
talk about everything that RAP has done this past year
and what they're doing as we head into the holidays,
and educate you about drinking and driving and their very
successful partnership with the Sober Ride Group. Here's my conversation
(00:24):
with Kurt. I hope you enjoy it as much as
I did. Good morning, Kurt, Good morning Dennis.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
How are you happy on holidays?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, you too. It's been a while since we've had
you in the program, so welcome back and a lot
to talk about when it comes to RAP. And I
want to do this because I know you've been on
the program many times and you're so gracious with your
time and sometimes we have police officers on with you.
It's just one on one today with the show and
Community DC. But I did want to kind of educate
our listeners and might not be familiar with RAP and
(00:50):
what it is. Can you just kind of give a
thirty thousand foot view for our listeners?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Ye? So RAP stands for the Washington Regional Alcohol Program.
It's a now forty three year old public private partnership
form to fight drunk driving the under age drinking. We
do it through public education, innovative health education programs, and advocacy.
But I think people probably best know us through something
that we've talked about, and it's probably courtesy of you
(01:16):
that people know us this way, which is worthy three
person nonprofit that's behind the region's sober Ride program, which
is a program that safely takes people home on these
high drinking, high alcohol consumption holidays and we take them
home via our partner at LEFT and we've had a
ninety five thousand people over ninety five thousand we will
take advantage of this program since it started back in
(01:38):
nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Well, it's pretty extraordinary and there's some great numbers. And
since we haven't talked in a while, how did we
do with the July fourth holiday? And then I know
for a fact because it's on your website that you
had record numbers for sober Ride Halloween? How did we
do in those two holidays?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, they were both great numbers.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So independence state specifically this year we had nearly six
hundred people actually five hundred and eightyized this local and
lifesaber program rather than driving home and pair. We offered
it on where we offered at four pm to four
am on actually July fourth. If you do the math
on the eight hours that we off offered the program,
it translated into the removal of a would be drunk
driver every seventy four seconds. And in fact, it was
(02:17):
the fourth highest level of ridership without holiday, which you're
absolute right. The Halloween is where we really shine, because
let me give you an example. So last year for Halloween,
we had seven hundred and thirty five people utilized this
program rather than driving home drunk. This year, because Halloween
fell on a Friday, we offered it for two nights
Friday October thirty first, and then Saturday November first, and
(02:38):
then total over four thousand. In fact, four thousand and
fifty six persons utilized this local anti drunk.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Driving program rather than driving home.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And pair, which was the single most highest level of
ridership in civil rights thirty four year history. And more importantly,
it propels us to something that I think we would
reach this soon, but we are now at the nearly
one hundred thousand persons served mark and the fact that
we've given out ninety nine thousand, four hundred and ninety
three rides. So when we again do this next month
(03:09):
in December, we will in fact be reaching that one
hundred thousand served milestone.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Outstanding. They're great numbers. And what I want to do
is I want to circle back to how people activate
sober ride because I think that's important. But the one
thing that you know, I always talk to you during
the holidays or an upcoming holiday, and I know that
you have some data from this year in past years too.
How are we doing a drunk driving because I know
what happens every day, not just the holidays, but numbers
(03:34):
can go out because people drink during parties, during holidays,
so forth and so on. That data proves that. But
as we look at drunk driving in the DMV, or
at least the areas that you work with different municipalities, Kurt,
how are we doing? Are we getting better, are we
getting worse? Or is it kind of the same? And
what does that data say?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Actually, it's more of a mixed bag of results. And
we're sitting on top of what we've team with the
Metropolitan Washington Council of Government. So I think it's almost
thirty years now that we produce sort of report called
how Safe Our Roads, and we're sitting on top of
one that's going to be issued in December that's going
to have twenty twenty four numbers. But if you look
at the twenty twenty three numbers just for the DMV,
there's some good news in there. Drunk driving injuries are down.
(04:13):
They decreased by over two percent. Drunk driving crashes are down,
they in decreased by over five percent. But and drunk
driving arrests are down. That's not always a good thing,
mind you, but those are down four percent. Trust me.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
There's not less people drinking and driving.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
But what went up during that period is that drunk
driving fatalities went up, does not. They didn't just go
up by four percent. They went up for a second
year in a row. And that pretty much follows if
you pull like Virginia as an example, because I was
looking at these figures this morning in Virginia in the
last year actually in twenty twenty four, drunk driving crashes
went down, great news. Drunk driving injuries went down, great news,
(04:50):
But drunk driving fatalities also went up for a second
year in a row and went up by over eight percent.
So anybody that's thinking that the fight again strunk driving
has been one could not be more wrong. And I
know we compete with other very valid traffic safety issues
of drowsing, driving, distructor driving, aggressive driving, and those are
(05:11):
all important, but nobody should think that the fight against
drunk driving has been one.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Well, let's do this. I think it's an excellent segue
to talk about education. Beside you being on this program
from time to time, I know that your megaphone along
with ours. There's a lot of different ways that you
get the message out besides just word of mouth when
it comes to sober Right and what you do. Can
you talk about some of the different things when it
comes to events and education and working with municipalities about
(05:34):
how you get the word out about sober Right and
what wrap does.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I think the two biggest outreaches that we do are
two distinct populations. One is youth and one as adults.
And this is in the Greater Washington area. The youth outreach,
which is probably where we have the biggest impact. It's
a program that we have done now for two decades
called Alcohol and Learners for Students, which is a multimedia
outreach program using an interactive power point presentation, but.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Also fatal vision goggles. Those are the goggles that people.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Wear that at least simulate what it's like to be
visually impaired by alcohol, and then put them through some
motor skill, whether they're shooting baskets, whether they're driving a
golf cart on a course, or even walking a straight lining.
We've reached as many as nine thousand students a year
with this program, and again it's really straightforward. We're simply
trying to communicate the real consequences, the economic consequences, the
(06:25):
life change of consequences, the social consequences of underach drinking.
We're not doing it through scare tactics. It's a very
straight up approach. It's a forty five minute presentation and
in the schools that we've done this, we've had market
increase of delayed use of alcohol reported by the students
of the region. Again, it's a high school based program.
The other initiative is called Safe and Vital Employees or
(06:49):
WE abbreviated SAVE, which is almost the same thing, but
for adults. It's an innovative business outreach program where we
bring traffic safety to the workplace while helping educate lawyers
on the dangers of impair driving on both a personal
and professional level.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I think it would surprise maybe your listeners to know.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
That that traffic incidents are still the number one killer
of US employees. They're not necessarily all alcohol related, but
the fact of the matter is that transportation safety is
a key interest just about any employer.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Kurt I realized that when it comes to the data
in the DMV, that's ours exclusively, and I get that.
And we're in a high congested area. As you take
a look at data maybe in some of the other
major markets, how are we comparing? Is everybody along the
same level? And I realize that there's more people, there's
more drivers, there's going to be more drunk and driving
out there, and more fatalities. How do we kind of
(07:41):
compare to maybe some of the other cities around the country.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, that's a good question, and that's one area where
the DC area does excel and I definitely attribute it
to a high level of awareness of this program. You've
got good options to do things to get home besides
driving home. Impair in other words, you've got a great
public transportation infrastructure, you've got rideshare, you've got taxi cabs,
(08:05):
all which are available, which aren't university available in every
metropolitan area. And what that said, we're constantly or historically
below the national level of which all traffic crashes involve alcohol.
I want to say, I used to remember the number.
I think it's about thirty two. Thirty three percent of
all traffic fatalities in this country still involved drunk drivers.
But in the DC area specifically that being Montgomery County,
(08:28):
Prince George's County, the District Arlington, Fair Tracts, laud and
Prince William it's twenty eight percent. So we, in a
positive way, we are below the national average of the
percentage of all traffic debts that involve drunk drivers. That's
a great thing, but it still echoes the fact that
over a quarter of our traffic deaths involved drunk drivers,
meaning that they're one hundred percent preventable.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So you know, there's still more work to be done.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Clearly, I want to talk more about education, and I
want to relate a personal story for you. So a
lot of our listeners know that I have a year
old that lives in Brooklyn as a filmmaker now, and
we were talking about drinking and driving, and my kid
is pretty responsible. And I think you and I can
agree when it comes to different moral messages or anything else,
including drink and driving, it starts at home with the
(09:14):
parents solidifying that you just don't do it when you
get behind the wheel with your kids, right. And we've
done this with my daughter since before she was sixteen,
don't drink and drive. And she brought up the other
day to me, you know, are you even talking And
she asked me, are you even talking about one drink?
I shouldn't get behind the wheel, And I said absolutely.
I said, you just don't want to put yourself in
(09:34):
harm's way to get the opportunity that if you were
to get into an accident, whether it's yourself or somebody
else's fault, that you would have liquor on your breath
or in your system, and it puts everybody in harm's way.
With that when you talk to families and you do
outreach and education, and I think once again we can
both agree, Kurt, that it starts at home. How are
we getting the message to the parents to talk to
(09:56):
their kids about this.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Parents are one of our key audiences and they need
to be right if just for the fact that studies
have shown time and time again that parents play a
crucial role when and if their kids drink alcohol. And
make no mistake that they're getting alcohol. I mean, I
mean in this country, twenty five percent of eight fifteen
(10:21):
to twenty year rolls involved in traffic crashes had been drinking.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Thirty percent were.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Legally drunk, so an adult ratio point zero eight or above.
So make no mistake about it that they're absolutely finding
the ways to get alcohol. But again, parents play an
integal role when and if their children drink alcohol. What
we annually do is just simply try to give that
information that's meant to reinforce parents' efforts to foster a
healthy and safe community or healthy and safe year for
(10:47):
them and their teenage children. We do this through a
number of means. One is we do the same program
that we do about our youth outreach. We do it
for parents. We've done it for PTOs. We annually publish
our tips for how parents can help prevent underage drinking
because again we make sure that they're you know, they
know their rule is crucial. And your daughter and your
(11:08):
was it your son or your daughter? My daughter?
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, my daughter out old twenty three yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
So that age is even more of a challenge for us,
and that's one of the reasons that we for the
last twenty four years have held heralded a program called
Drive Sober, Get pulled Over. It used to be called
check one Strikeforce in Virginia where we are doing nothing
but targeting twenty one thirty five year olds, so that
you know your daughter is in the middle of that.
(11:36):
And it's a group that is overrepresented in fatal Carno crashes,
hre alcohol is a factor. It's a group that is
that has the highest BAC level. So if you think
of been like a bell curve on top of that
bell curve and these risks taking twenty one thirty five
year olds and unfortunately for us, it's a group that's
provenly resistant to run of the middle PSA campaigns, and
so we've had a very carrot approach in this campaign
(11:58):
of late, and the more recent game of this campaign
has been what's the damage to focus on the economic
costs of a DUI, which you know DC Maryland Virginia
law is different, but as a whole, I mean, for
your first defense, you're looking it up to twenty five
hundred dollars in finings, up to a year in jail,
and having your license taken away for a year. In addition, DC, Maryland,
(12:19):
Virginia are all localities that if you do get convicted
of a DUI, it doesn't matter whether you're first or
thirty first, and it doesn't matter whether you're twenty one
or seventy one. You're going to have to install these
in car breathalyzers that you and I have talked about
in the past, otherwise known as ignition analog devices that
will prevent you or anybody from opering your car if
its senses that the driver's been drinking. But in closing
(12:40):
that audience, the bridge that we're trying to divide is
that when we annually do a study or survey of
twenty one to thirty five year old drivers in Virginia,
and when we did it in August of this year,
ninety six percent we did one thousand Virginia young drivers,
ninety six percent said it was very important to plan
a safe at home before an evening of drinking. Yeah,
(13:02):
but only sixty nine regularly do, so it's closing that
de Bay.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Well, that's great. It's still staggering though, that difference in
between you know, the plan and what you actually do
and execute. And you know, I imagine you know a
lot of parents have done this. I've told my daughter
along with my wife, will pay for the ride share.
We will take care of that. Even if you have
people with you, we just don't want you getting behind
the wheel. And I think you know as much as
(13:27):
we install that she still had that question. She said,
even if I have like a half a beer or
maybe a glass of wine, and I say absolutely. I said,
the one thing that you can do is that if
you get behind the wheel with any alcohol in your body,
that just changes the whole dynamics of everything. And I
think that's kind of the message that you're also trying
to get across too with your people. And when we
talked to different police officers in this series, Curt then, yeah,
(13:50):
drinking and driving and if you have multiple drinks a
giant no no. When you've talked about the repercussions of
the ugliness that can happen to you and staying on
the record for the rest of your life, folks, which
is brutal, but having any alcohol on your breath, it's
just it's a no go. It's a non starter for
me as.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
A parent, you know. I think that's I think that's
very well said. Just for the fact that I.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Think if people realize that that the district, Maryland and
Virginia all have zero towns laws and making it illegal
to consume, to possess, to purchase alcohol if you're under
the age of twenty one, and there's certain liabilities I
mean for parents, and parents might think that, hey, look,
my kids are going to drink, so let me allow
them to do it at my house, which I guess.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
The heart is in the right place, but the brain isn't.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
For the fact that in most cases it's actually unlawful
for parents to allow their children's friends to consume alcohol
in their home, and parents are adults may face chargers
layer on if these same friends are involved in a crash.
There's some significant liabilities there.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
By the way, one of the things that's interesting, I
think Virginia is unique in the DMV about this that
if you if you are under eighteen, and because you
said twice about alcohol in your breath, that if you
are under eighteen, you tested with virtually any amount of alcohol.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I'm not talking about the point of eight you have
point zero two blood alcohol concentration. You're under eighteen, you're driving.
The penalty, not up to the mandatory minimum penalty is
losing your license for a year.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
And to bring that up, because you know, nobody wants
to jail teams finds too often are taken care of
by parents that strike a check. But you know, there's
not there's not a seventeen year old planet that wants
his mother take them on a date or drive him
on a date. And so that drivers that driver's license
sanction is so key, and it's one of the things
(15:39):
that really distinguishes some of Virginia's anti underage drinking efforts.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Well, hopefully we've scared some people straight, Thankscem exactly. You know,
one of the other things that I have learned talking
to you in different officers over the last several years
in this program as we've had you on is in
now prescription drugs and THC marijuana are part of the
duy checks with a lot of different stops out there,
(16:03):
and we've talked about this in the DMV. They're happening
right now, and I imagine they're happening around the country.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
I realize that there's not the proper technology, but I
know that police officers are being trained to look for
also prescription and also marijuana use from drivers, which can
be illegal. Can you go into a little bit more detail,
because I think we're going to strike a corpate listener. Say,
I had no idea that if I take prescription drugs
(16:30):
and get high behind the wheel or marijuana use, I
didn't know that I could get busted for that. Can
you kind of educate our listeners about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
The short version is that impaired driving is impaired driving.
So whether you are impaired by a prescription, whether you're
impaired by illicit drugs, whether you're impaired by alcohol, it's
really all it's all the same. And with the increasing
legalization of recreational marijuana use, specifically in the DMV, one
thing that we're constantly having to underscore is that marijuana
(16:58):
use is impairing. It decreases motor coordination, It slows reaction time,
and impairs judgment of time and distance, all of which
are critical for driving and the fact that people don't
think that it is the law. It is actually driving
while impaired is unsafe and illegal in all US states,
and that driving under the influence of marijuana specifically is
(17:20):
dangerous for all drivers, but teams are especially vulnerable because
their limited driving experiences. So you marry those two together,
you've got a limited experienced driver. Then you put in
a foreign substance in terms of THC in cannabis, you're really,
you know, rating a habit. And what we're finding out too,
is that in the majority of cases where they test
(17:41):
beyond alcohol, the majority of persons that are rested for
drunk driving or excuse me, impaired driving are indeed poly users,
meaning that they'll have multiple substances in their systems. It's
more often than not cannabis and alcohol, but it's certainly
not limited to that. And in fact, Maryland's code is
I don't know, wich I know what the word was
(18:01):
for vipercated is two whatever the one is by four
they actually have four different sections. So it's being impaired
by alcohol, under the influence of alcohol, being impaired by drugs,
and being impaired by illicit drugs. All of those have
distinct penalties. So this is probably reson Neue issue in
the fact that it's getting a lot more increasing attention.
(18:23):
But the fact of the matter is it's long been
an issue.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
I want to ask you about technology because for anybody
that watches TikTok, we see it on there, and then
if you watched a TV show or a movie, we
see how people are pulled over. They go through a
DUI check. Sometimes there is a field sobriety tests that
they do, and then some people are meant to blow
in to see if they are over the alcohol limit.
When it comes to prescription drugs and mainly more THC
(18:47):
and marijuana use, are they talking about technology for doing
the same kind of thing actually on the field at
a deuy spot. Are we getting close to that happening yet?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, that's a great question, and we are in fact,
whether it's through saliva task or fluid testing. Obviously one
of the gold standards is blood testing. It's a little
bit more invasive. But the fact of the matter is
that that technology has come a long way in a
separt in fact, so much so that it's now irrefutable.
You know, it has to be somewhat debated you know
(19:17):
the efficacy of blood alcohol concentration tests, that's not even
argued the fact anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
These are so highly calibrated.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And again in a checkpoint, this is where you know
your eyes are open in terms of things, because in
a checkpoint, you're not necessarily pulling over for a problemo
cause because you're going you know, slowly through a checkpoint.
But boyet these are done well. Sorority checkpoints can reduce
traffic fatalities by as much as twenty percent.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
By the way, that's not my opinion.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
It's the efficacy of these that were studied by the
insurances too for highway safety that talked about how effective
a well run checkpoint can be. So they are a
key tool of combating drug driving.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Kurt, we had mentioned that you work with many municipalities
out there in the DMV. I'm curious, just for educational purposes,
when they look at all the data and your data
as well, about where they put checkpoints. And I imagine
they moved them as the data moves out there, but
they probably have some main spots that they always put
these duy stops. How do they actually choose them?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, so that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
So that usually are high incidents areas, so it could
be streets that have been known to have a number
of Duy incidents, whether those be arrest crashes or what
have you.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
But it's always sometimes.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Surprising the fact that people think it's an urban crime
when it's pretty much equal at least nationally. That's somewhat
changed recently. So you'll also see rural ers. Sometimes people
think that going in a rural readly home will be
their escape route.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Not going by a checkpoint.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
And sometimes they're very creative and the fact that they're
set up not just in the typical times.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
I mean, well, DUI has so many stereotypes.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
The majority of DUI incidents happen on the weekends, they
happen at night. But police are smart enough where they've
done happy our checkpoints or they do phantom checkpoints where
they're setting one up in one section of town and
that gets viral attention, where people are communicating through social
meanings and otherwise here's a checkpoint, when in fact the
real checkpoint is somewhere else and so forth. So again,
(21:17):
a checkpoint, however, is not just the You're not just
affecting the persons that go through it. You're affecting the
you're trying to have behavioral modification of people that know
about it. The best example of that is Fairfrix County
Police as an example, that rarely do monthly checkpoints. They'll count,
as anybody does, the number of cars going through it,
but they'll also lay wires against traffic going the opposite way,
(21:40):
and they're counting that against, you know, their afficacy because
they're trying to tell people, oh my gosh, there's a
checkpoint out there, I need to, you know, make a
safe make a plan for a saint right home again,
whether it's be using public transportation or ride share or
taxi cabs or.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
A sober driver.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I probably have asked you this before, but once again,
it's educating a lot of our new listeners who are
just past Thanksgiving now as this interview airs on this Sunday.
But we do have the Christmas, Honikah holidays coming up.
We talked about Halloween. There is New Year's Eve, there
is fourth of July. Probably a couple other holidays are
Saint Patrick say, you and I have talked about before
leading up to that. Has there been a holiday in
(22:21):
the DMV When it comes to the data that's more
prevalent to having DUIs or is it just all over
the place year to year.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
So for the Christmas PAIRD specifically, so I think n
it's the National Haymber Traffic Safetydministration podcast that makes that.
From like Christmas Eve through about New Year's it's thirty
seven percent of all traffic deaths in this country at
least according to twenty twenty three figures or involved from drivers.
In fact, the only other holiday and that's greater than
that percentage wise, is Memorial Day, when you have thirty
(22:49):
nine percent.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
But this is.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Roughly more than you know, than roughly the thirty two
percent that it's any given time of the year. So
it's a it's a significant uptack. And I bring this
up because it's not just you and I are aware
about it and we're discussing it. Law enforcement are aware
of it discussing it. So that's when they ramp up
activities to identify and appriand drunk drivers. And again through
the Drive Sober aget Pulled Over campaign that we run
in Virginia, we're going to be issuing the number of
(23:14):
law enforcement agencies that are going to be involved in
the second when we did it in August, there's nearly
two hundred Virginia law enforcement agencies that during the Labor
Day period they conducted I think it was over seven
hundred individual as saturation patrols in eighty six sobriety checkpoints
again as a means of identifying and appriand drunk drivers.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
So it's not just when you hear a holiday that oh.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
This increased percentage of likelihood of drum driving incidents, is
that law enforcement are ready for that.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Well, speaking of law enforcement, coming up on December twelfth,
at eight thirty to ten thirty, you've got a big
event coming up in his wraps, twenty eighth Annual Law
Enforcement Awards and holiday Sober Right Campaign kickoff. I know
this is a big deal because you're acknowledging law enforcement
who is so big in this and does so many
incredible selfless things out there. But also the the actual
Sober Right camping kickoff too, which is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah, So this is it's going to be a new
location for us. So it's on December twelve, which is
a Friday morning. It's actually going to be in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
We're honored to have the Maryland Lieutenant Governor Rona Miller
as our speaker, which we're delighted with.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
But it's an opportunity for us.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
To annually honor area law enforcement officers for their work
and impair driving prevention. So on that day we'll actually
be honoring eighteen law enforcement officers that are nominated by
their chiefs or their sheriff around the Beltway for their
efforts to serve. Really it's the front lines and the
fight against from driving. You know, we talk a lot
about RAPS programs and sober ide, make no mistake about it,
(24:41):
it's the men and women in uniform that are serving
as the front lines and this effort. So the least
that we can do is to honor them. And so
they get plaques which maybe they they're being stacked on
their desks, but they also get the accolydes from a
two hundred person road that gets to hear about the
work they've done. They also get wh Nationals tigts what's
the washing Nationals kindly provide for the twenty twenty six season,
(25:04):
and then Glory Days, Grill buys them dinner, which is
a really a nice effort just to again say thank
you for for they're really herald enough outstanding.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
That sounds like a great time. I did want to
ask you because so many listeners have asked me when
I've had you in the program that you never talked
about donations and how does Curtin wrap? How are they funded?
And you know you and I haven't talked about that
a lot, but I'd love to ask about how you're
funded and can people donate money, advocate, volunteer or anything
to help out RAP. Can you kind of address that.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
For us absolutely? First of all, I understand that we
are two things. We Wrap is a five o' one
C three charity, which means that all donations to Honest
are fully tax deductible as allowed by law. Two is
that even though I think we give the presents, I
kind of view it like the Don't Book, behind the
curtain of you know, a very larger organization. I think
(25:54):
Subriide has become so institutionalized that I think people think
that it's some big, phaseless government behind the scenes pulling
the levers one. In fact, it's a three person charitable
organization that keeps this program going and that annually strikes
a check for strokesure check for seventy eighty thousand dollars
just on fares a loan for that program. But being
a Fogle and C three, people can donate to us
(26:16):
directly and we're really easy. I can't give you an
easier website than wrap dot org. So it's wr AP
stands for the Washington Regional Alcohol Program wrapped dot org.
You can go there and on the very first page
tells you how to maxi taxiductible donation through PayPal. You
don't have to have a PayPal account, it's just you
can do it.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
By credit card. We would welcome that support.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Help.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
We're generally funded.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
In general is public support general business, and then are
public partners, so from the DC Highway Safety Office, the
Maryland high Wey Safety Office, and the Virginia Department or
Motor Vehicles are our key public partners. But then if
you look at any of our sub right materials, you'll
see a number of private encities that are involved in
this effort as well.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
So whether it be Enterprise.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Run a Car, or the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility
or the Chessbeak Region Safety Counsel and others that have
joined in this effort to knowing that you know, Joe
driving is one hundred percent preventable.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
What can we do to create a safety.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Net, especially during this high risk, high alcohol consumption periods.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Kurt, I only have two minutes left, so I want
to do this. I want to let you know and
let the listeners know how to actually activate sober ride anytime,
but especially during the holidays, how they can do that,
and then just get some final thoughts from you. So
the floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, So when we do this program at anytime during
the year, and we do it on six times during
the year, where we actually are offering people a free
safe right home through our lift partnership LAFT, which is
our right share partner, and all people need to do
is to go to sober ride dot com. So we
mentioned one website, wrapp dot org. But then sober Ride
s O b e r ride dot com. At any
(27:52):
of those holidays you go there, We're going to publish
a code.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
You simply put that code into.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Your left app if you don't already have Lift downloaded
to your FOE, do that, but then enter the sober
ride code and the apps payment tab and it pays
for up to a fifteen dollars fare during any of
this given holidays. Just so you know, and I think Dennis,
you and I have talked about it more that the
average fare for this program is less than fifteen dollars.
It really does capture the majority of people home. But
(28:18):
even if you're a fair is twenty, we'll still play
you from the first fifteen. So you do that, you
put that into your code into your phone, and it'll
be We'll actually be publishing two different codes this year.
One on December nineteen, which is the first round of
sober id that we'll be offering through New Year's and
then of course New Year's which is always a huge
night for us, on December thirty. First, we'll be publishing
(28:39):
the code again on silbroad dot com. That'll be a
second code just for use that evening, which I think
we did over eleven hundred rides last New Year, So
we're anticipating at least those numbers, especially with the Halloween
numbers that we talked about recently.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Right any you were saying at the top our interview,
at least the numbers are going up with people using
sober Ride, which is encouraging and that you're making a difference.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
But the program is only as good as a number
of people that use.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
It and the number of incidents that were hopefully deterring
in terms of drunk driving around it Again, when you've
had ninety nine thousand people utilize this program rather than
driving home and paid of God and believe it it's
contributing at least to the Greater Washing area being below
the national average of all traffic deaths that involved from drivers.
And the fact that we're positively below that national average
(29:25):
in a good way.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Let's give the website one more time card yep SO.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Washington Regional outcol Program.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's abbreviated of wrap so wrapped dot order will tell
you about any of the programs that we discussed and
by the way, the school based program, you workplace program,
sober ride or all free and if you just want
to know about the free safe Right service that we're
on various holidays including next month, So for the holidays Deceummer.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Nineteenth through January first, you can go to sober.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Ride dot com so b e r r Ide dot com.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
We'll tell you more about this local life saving program.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Kurt's great to have you on the show again. Thank
you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
And that's happy holidays. Thanks for gonna song.
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community d C.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
to the program Kurt Ericson. He is the president of
the Washington Regional Alcohol Program, also known as RAP. We'll
talk about everything that RAP has done this past year
and what they're doing as we head into the holidays,
and educate you about drinking and driving and their very
successful partnership with the Sober Ride Group. Here's my conversation
(00:24):
with Kurt. I hope you enjoy it as much as
I did. Good morning, Kurt, Good morning Dennis.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
How are you happy on holidays?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, you too. It's been a while since we've had
you in the program, so welcome back and a lot
to talk about when it comes to RAP. And I
want to do this because I know you've been on
the program many times and you're so gracious with your
time and sometimes we have police officers on with you.
It's just one on one today with the show and
Community DC. But I did want to kind of educate
our listeners and might not be familiar with RAP and
(00:50):
what it is. Can you just kind of give a
thirty thousand foot view for our listeners?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Ye? So RAP stands for the Washington Regional Alcohol Program.
It's a now forty three year old public private partnership
form to fight drunk driving the under age drinking. We
do it through public education, innovative health education programs, and advocacy.
But I think people probably best know us through something
that we've talked about, and it's probably courtesy of you
(01:16):
that people know us this way, which is worthy three
person nonprofit that's behind the region's sober Ride program, which
is a program that safely takes people home on these
high drinking, high alcohol consumption holidays and we take them
home via our partner at LEFT and we've had a
ninety five thousand people over ninety five thousand we will
take advantage of this program since it started back in
(01:38):
nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Well, it's pretty extraordinary and there's some great numbers. And
since we haven't talked in a while, how did we
do with the July fourth holiday? And then I know
for a fact because it's on your website that you
had record numbers for sober Ride Halloween? How did we
do in those two holidays?
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Yeah, they were both great numbers.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
So independence state specifically this year we had nearly six
hundred people actually five hundred and eightyized this local and
lifesaber program rather than driving home and pair. We offered
it on where we offered at four pm to four
am on actually July fourth. If you do the math
on the eight hours that we off offered the program,
it translated into the removal of a would be drunk
driver every seventy four seconds. And in fact, it was
(02:17):
the fourth highest level of ridership without holiday, which you're
absolute right. The Halloween is where we really shine, because
let me give you an example. So last year for Halloween,
we had seven hundred and thirty five people utilized this
program rather than driving home drunk. This year, because Halloween
fell on a Friday, we offered it for two nights
Friday October thirty first, and then Saturday November first, and
(02:38):
then total over four thousand. In fact, four thousand and
fifty six persons utilized this local anti drunk.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
Driving program rather than driving home.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
And pair, which was the single most highest level of
ridership in civil rights thirty four year history. And more importantly,
it propels us to something that I think we would
reach this soon, but we are now at the nearly
one hundred thousand persons served mark and the fact that
we've given out ninety nine thousand, four hundred and ninety
three rides. So when we again do this next month
(03:09):
in December, we will in fact be reaching that one
hundred thousand served milestone.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Outstanding. They're great numbers. And what I want to do
is I want to circle back to how people activate
sober ride because I think that's important. But the one
thing that you know, I always talk to you during
the holidays or an upcoming holiday, and I know that
you have some data from this year in past years too.
How are we doing a drunk driving because I know
what happens every day, not just the holidays, but numbers
(03:34):
can go out because people drink during parties, during holidays,
so forth and so on. That data proves that. But
as we look at drunk driving in the DMV, or
at least the areas that you work with different municipalities, Kurt,
how are we doing? Are we getting better, are we
getting worse? Or is it kind of the same? And
what does that data say?
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Actually, it's more of a mixed bag of results. And
we're sitting on top of what we've team with the
Metropolitan Washington Council of Government. So I think it's almost
thirty years now that we produce sort of report called
how Safe Our Roads, and we're sitting on top of
one that's going to be issued in December that's going
to have twenty twenty four numbers. But if you look
at the twenty twenty three numbers just for the DMV,
there's some good news in there. Drunk driving injuries are down.
(04:13):
They decreased by over two percent. Drunk driving crashes are down,
they in decreased by over five percent. But and drunk
driving arrests are down. That's not always a good thing,
mind you, but those are down four percent. Trust me.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
There's not less people drinking and driving.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
But what went up during that period is that drunk
driving fatalities went up, does not. They didn't just go
up by four percent. They went up for a second
year in a row. And that pretty much follows if
you pull like Virginia as an example, because I was
looking at these figures this morning in Virginia in the
last year actually in twenty twenty four, drunk driving crashes
went down, great news. Drunk driving injuries went down, great news,
(04:50):
But drunk driving fatalities also went up for a second
year in a row and went up by over eight percent.
So anybody that's thinking that the fight again strunk driving
has been one could not be more wrong. And I
know we compete with other very valid traffic safety issues
of drowsing, driving, distructor driving, aggressive driving, and those are
(05:11):
all important, but nobody should think that the fight against
drunk driving has been one.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Well, let's do this. I think it's an excellent segue
to talk about education. Beside you being on this program
from time to time, I know that your megaphone along
with ours. There's a lot of different ways that you
get the message out besides just word of mouth when
it comes to sober Right and what you do. Can
you talk about some of the different things when it
comes to events and education and working with municipalities about
(05:34):
how you get the word out about sober Right and
what wrap does.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I think the two biggest outreaches that we do are
two distinct populations. One is youth and one as adults.
And this is in the Greater Washington area. The youth outreach,
which is probably where we have the biggest impact. It's
a program that we have done now for two decades
called Alcohol and Learners for Students, which is a multimedia
outreach program using an interactive power point presentation, but.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Also fatal vision goggles. Those are the goggles that people.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Wear that at least simulate what it's like to be
visually impaired by alcohol, and then put them through some
motor skill, whether they're shooting baskets, whether they're driving a
golf cart on a course, or even walking a straight lining.
We've reached as many as nine thousand students a year
with this program, and again it's really straightforward. We're simply
trying to communicate the real consequences, the economic consequences, the
(06:25):
life change of consequences, the social consequences of underach drinking.
We're not doing it through scare tactics. It's a very
straight up approach. It's a forty five minute presentation and
in the schools that we've done this, we've had market
increase of delayed use of alcohol reported by the students
of the region. Again, it's a high school based program.
The other initiative is called Safe and Vital Employees or
(06:49):
WE abbreviated SAVE, which is almost the same thing, but
for adults. It's an innovative business outreach program where we
bring traffic safety to the workplace while helping educate lawyers
on the dangers of impair driving on both a personal
and professional level.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I think it would surprise maybe your listeners to know.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
That that traffic incidents are still the number one killer
of US employees. They're not necessarily all alcohol related, but
the fact of the matter is that transportation safety is
a key interest just about any employer.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Kurt I realized that when it comes to the data
in the DMV, that's ours exclusively, and I get that.
And we're in a high congested area. As you take
a look at data maybe in some of the other
major markets, how are we comparing? Is everybody along the
same level? And I realize that there's more people, there's
more drivers, there's going to be more drunk and driving
out there, and more fatalities. How do we kind of
(07:41):
compare to maybe some of the other cities around the country.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, that's a good question, and that's one area where
the DC area does excel and I definitely attribute it
to a high level of awareness of this program. You've
got good options to do things to get home besides
driving home. Impair in other words, you've got a great
public transportation infrastructure, you've got rideshare, you've got taxi cabs,
(08:05):
all which are available, which aren't university available in every
metropolitan area. And what that said, we're constantly or historically
below the national level of which all traffic crashes involve alcohol.
I want to say, I used to remember the number.
I think it's about thirty two. Thirty three percent of
all traffic fatalities in this country still involved drunk drivers.
But in the DC area specifically that being Montgomery County,
(08:28):
Prince George's County, the District Arlington, Fair Tracts, laud and
Prince William it's twenty eight percent. So we, in a
positive way, we are below the national average of the
percentage of all traffic debts that involve drunk drivers. That's
a great thing, but it still echoes the fact that
over a quarter of our traffic deaths involved drunk drivers,
meaning that they're one hundred percent preventable.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So you know, there's still more work to be done.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
Clearly, I want to talk more about education, and I
want to relate a personal story for you. So a
lot of our listeners know that I have a year
old that lives in Brooklyn as a filmmaker now, and
we were talking about drinking and driving, and my kid
is pretty responsible. And I think you and I can
agree when it comes to different moral messages or anything else,
including drink and driving, it starts at home with the
(09:14):
parents solidifying that you just don't do it when you
get behind the wheel with your kids, right. And we've
done this with my daughter since before she was sixteen,
don't drink and drive. And she brought up the other
day to me, you know, are you even talking And
she asked me, are you even talking about one drink?
I shouldn't get behind the wheel, And I said absolutely.
I said, you just don't want to put yourself in
(09:34):
harm's way to get the opportunity that if you were
to get into an accident, whether it's yourself or somebody
else's fault, that you would have liquor on your breath
or in your system, and it puts everybody in harm's way.
With that when you talk to families and you do
outreach and education, and I think once again we can
both agree, Kurt, that it starts at home. How are
we getting the message to the parents to talk to
(09:56):
their kids about this.
Speaker 3 (09:58):
Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Parents are one of our key audiences and they need
to be right if just for the fact that studies
have shown time and time again that parents play a
crucial role when and if their kids drink alcohol. And
make no mistake that they're getting alcohol. I mean, I
mean in this country, twenty five percent of eight fifteen
(10:21):
to twenty year rolls involved in traffic crashes had been drinking.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
Thirty percent were.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Legally drunk, so an adult ratio point zero eight or above.
So make no mistake about it that they're absolutely finding
the ways to get alcohol. But again, parents play an
integal role when and if their children drink alcohol. What
we annually do is just simply try to give that
information that's meant to reinforce parents' efforts to foster a
healthy and safe community or healthy and safe year for
(10:47):
them and their teenage children. We do this through a
number of means. One is we do the same program
that we do about our youth outreach. We do it
for parents. We've done it for PTOs. We annually publish
our tips for how parents can help prevent underage drinking
because again we make sure that they're you know, they
know their rule is crucial. And your daughter and your
(11:08):
was it your son or your daughter? My daughter?
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, my daughter out old twenty three yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
So that age is even more of a challenge for us,
and that's one of the reasons that we for the
last twenty four years have held heralded a program called
Drive Sober, Get pulled Over. It used to be called
check one Strikeforce in Virginia where we are doing nothing
but targeting twenty one thirty five year olds, so that
you know your daughter is in the middle of that.
(11:36):
And it's a group that is overrepresented in fatal Carno crashes,
hre alcohol is a factor. It's a group that is
that has the highest BAC level. So if you think
of been like a bell curve on top of that
bell curve and these risks taking twenty one thirty five
year olds and unfortunately for us, it's a group that's
provenly resistant to run of the middle PSA campaigns, and
so we've had a very carrot approach in this campaign
(11:58):
of late, and the more recent game of this campaign
has been what's the damage to focus on the economic
costs of a DUI, which you know DC Maryland Virginia
law is different, but as a whole, I mean, for
your first defense, you're looking it up to twenty five
hundred dollars in finings, up to a year in jail,
and having your license taken away for a year. In addition, DC, Maryland,
(12:19):
Virginia are all localities that if you do get convicted
of a DUI, it doesn't matter whether you're first or
thirty first, and it doesn't matter whether you're twenty one
or seventy one. You're going to have to install these
in car breathalyzers that you and I have talked about
in the past, otherwise known as ignition analog devices that
will prevent you or anybody from opering your car if
its senses that the driver's been drinking. But in closing
(12:40):
that audience, the bridge that we're trying to divide is
that when we annually do a study or survey of
twenty one to thirty five year old drivers in Virginia,
and when we did it in August of this year,
ninety six percent we did one thousand Virginia young drivers,
ninety six percent said it was very important to plan
a safe at home before an evening of drinking. Yeah,
(13:02):
but only sixty nine regularly do, so it's closing that
de Bay.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Well, that's great. It's still staggering though, that difference in
between you know, the plan and what you actually do
and execute. And you know, I imagine you know a
lot of parents have done this. I've told my daughter
along with my wife, will pay for the ride share.
We will take care of that. Even if you have
people with you, we just don't want you getting behind
the wheel. And I think you know as much as
(13:27):
we install that she still had that question. She said,
even if I have like a half a beer or
maybe a glass of wine, and I say absolutely. I said,
the one thing that you can do is that if
you get behind the wheel with any alcohol in your body,
that just changes the whole dynamics of everything. And I
think that's kind of the message that you're also trying
to get across too with your people. And when we
talked to different police officers in this series, Curt then, yeah,
(13:50):
drinking and driving and if you have multiple drinks a
giant no no. When you've talked about the repercussions of
the ugliness that can happen to you and staying on
the record for the rest of your life, folks, which
is brutal, but having any alcohol on your breath, it's
just it's a no go. It's a non starter for
me as.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
A parent, you know. I think that's I think that's
very well said. Just for the fact that I.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Think if people realize that that the district, Maryland and
Virginia all have zero towns laws and making it illegal
to consume, to possess, to purchase alcohol if you're under
the age of twenty one, and there's certain liabilities I
mean for parents, and parents might think that, hey, look,
my kids are going to drink, so let me allow
them to do it at my house, which I guess.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
The heart is in the right place, but the brain isn't.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
For the fact that in most cases it's actually unlawful
for parents to allow their children's friends to consume alcohol
in their home, and parents are adults may face chargers
layer on if these same friends are involved in a crash.
There's some significant liabilities there.
Speaker 4 (14:47):
By the way, one of the things that's interesting, I
think Virginia is unique in the DMV about this that
if you if you are under eighteen, and because you
said twice about alcohol in your breath, that if you
are under eighteen, you tested with virtually any amount of alcohol.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
I'm not talking about the point of eight you have
point zero two blood alcohol concentration. You're under eighteen, you're driving.
The penalty, not up to the mandatory minimum penalty is
losing your license for a year.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
And to bring that up, because you know, nobody wants
to jail teams finds too often are taken care of
by parents that strike a check. But you know, there's
not there's not a seventeen year old planet that wants
his mother take them on a date or drive him
on a date. And so that drivers that driver's license
sanction is so key, and it's one of the things
(15:39):
that really distinguishes some of Virginia's anti underage drinking efforts.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Well, hopefully we've scared some people straight, Thankscem exactly. You know,
one of the other things that I have learned talking
to you in different officers over the last several years
in this program as we've had you on is in
now prescription drugs and THC marijuana are part of the
duy checks with a lot of different stops out there,
(16:03):
and we've talked about this in the DMV. They're happening
right now, and I imagine they're happening around the country.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Now.
Speaker 1 (16:08):
I realize that there's not the proper technology, but I
know that police officers are being trained to look for
also prescription and also marijuana use from drivers, which can
be illegal. Can you go into a little bit more detail,
because I think we're going to strike a corpate listener. Say,
I had no idea that if I take prescription drugs
(16:30):
and get high behind the wheel or marijuana use, I
didn't know that I could get busted for that. Can
you kind of educate our listeners about that. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
The short version is that impaired driving is impaired driving.
So whether you are impaired by a prescription, whether you're
impaired by illicit drugs, whether you're impaired by alcohol, it's
really all it's all the same. And with the increasing
legalization of recreational marijuana use, specifically in the DMV, one
thing that we're constantly having to underscore is that marijuana
(16:58):
use is impairing. It decreases motor coordination, It slows reaction time,
and impairs judgment of time and distance, all of which
are critical for driving and the fact that people don't
think that it is the law. It is actually driving
while impaired is unsafe and illegal in all US states,
and that driving under the influence of marijuana specifically is
(17:20):
dangerous for all drivers, but teams are especially vulnerable because
their limited driving experiences. So you marry those two together,
you've got a limited experienced driver. Then you put in
a foreign substance in terms of THC in cannabis, you're really,
you know, rating a habit. And what we're finding out too,
is that in the majority of cases where they test
(17:41):
beyond alcohol, the majority of persons that are rested for
drunk driving or excuse me, impaired driving are indeed poly users,
meaning that they'll have multiple substances in their systems. It's
more often than not cannabis and alcohol, but it's certainly
not limited to that. And in fact, Maryland's code is
I don't know, wich I know what the word was
(18:01):
for vipercated is two whatever the one is by four
they actually have four different sections. So it's being impaired
by alcohol, under the influence of alcohol, being impaired by drugs,
and being impaired by illicit drugs. All of those have
distinct penalties. So this is probably reson Neue issue in
the fact that it's getting a lot more increasing attention.
(18:23):
But the fact of the matter is it's long been
an issue.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
I want to ask you about technology because for anybody
that watches TikTok, we see it on there, and then
if you watched a TV show or a movie, we
see how people are pulled over. They go through a
DUI check. Sometimes there is a field sobriety tests that
they do, and then some people are meant to blow
in to see if they are over the alcohol limit.
When it comes to prescription drugs and mainly more THC
(18:47):
and marijuana use, are they talking about technology for doing
the same kind of thing actually on the field at
a deuy spot. Are we getting close to that happening yet?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
Yeah, that's a great question, and we are in fact,
whether it's through saliva task or fluid testing. Obviously one
of the gold standards is blood testing. It's a little
bit more invasive. But the fact of the matter is
that that technology has come a long way in a
separt in fact, so much so that it's now irrefutable.
You know, it has to be somewhat debated you know
(19:17):
the efficacy of blood alcohol concentration tests, that's not even
argued the fact anymore.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
These are so highly calibrated.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
And again in a checkpoint, this is where you know
your eyes are open in terms of things, because in
a checkpoint, you're not necessarily pulling over for a problemo
cause because you're going you know, slowly through a checkpoint.
But boyet these are done well. Sorority checkpoints can reduce
traffic fatalities by as much as twenty percent.
Speaker 3 (19:44):
By the way, that's not my opinion.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
It's the efficacy of these that were studied by the
insurances too for highway safety that talked about how effective
a well run checkpoint can be. So they are a
key tool of combating drug driving.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Kurt, we had mentioned that you work with many municipalities
out there in the DMV. I'm curious, just for educational purposes,
when they look at all the data and your data
as well, about where they put checkpoints. And I imagine
they moved them as the data moves out there, but
they probably have some main spots that they always put
these duy stops. How do they actually choose them?
Speaker 3 (20:19):
Yeah, so that's a great question.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
So that usually are high incidents areas, so it could
be streets that have been known to have a number
of Duy incidents, whether those be arrest crashes or what
have you.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
But it's always sometimes.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Surprising the fact that people think it's an urban crime
when it's pretty much equal at least nationally. That's somewhat
changed recently. So you'll also see rural ers. Sometimes people
think that going in a rural readly home will be
their escape route.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
Not going by a checkpoint.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
And sometimes they're very creative and the fact that they're
set up not just in the typical times.
Speaker 3 (20:52):
I mean, well, DUI has so many stereotypes.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
The majority of DUI incidents happen on the weekends, they
happen at night. But police are smart enough where they've
done happy our checkpoints or they do phantom checkpoints where
they're setting one up in one section of town and
that gets viral attention, where people are communicating through social
meanings and otherwise here's a checkpoint, when in fact the
real checkpoint is somewhere else and so forth. So again,
(21:17):
a checkpoint, however, is not just the You're not just
affecting the persons that go through it. You're affecting the
you're trying to have behavioral modification of people that know
about it. The best example of that is Fairfrix County
Police as an example, that rarely do monthly checkpoints. They'll count,
as anybody does, the number of cars going through it,
but they'll also lay wires against traffic going the opposite way,
(21:40):
and they're counting that against, you know, their afficacy because
they're trying to tell people, oh my gosh, there's a
checkpoint out there, I need to, you know, make a
safe make a plan for a saint right home again,
whether it's be using public transportation or ride share or
taxi cabs or.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
A sober driver.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
I probably have asked you this before, but once again,
it's educating a lot of our new listeners who are
just past Thanksgiving now as this interview airs on this Sunday.
But we do have the Christmas, Honikah holidays coming up.
We talked about Halloween. There is New Year's Eve, there
is fourth of July. Probably a couple other holidays are
Saint Patrick say, you and I have talked about before
leading up to that. Has there been a holiday in
(22:21):
the DMV When it comes to the data that's more
prevalent to having DUIs or is it just all over
the place year to year.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
So for the Christmas PAIRD specifically, so I think n
it's the National Haymber Traffic Safetydministration podcast that makes that.
From like Christmas Eve through about New Year's it's thirty
seven percent of all traffic deaths in this country at
least according to twenty twenty three figures or involved from drivers.
In fact, the only other holiday and that's greater than
that percentage wise, is Memorial Day, when you have thirty
(22:49):
nine percent.
Speaker 3 (22:50):
But this is.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Roughly more than you know, than roughly the thirty two
percent that it's any given time of the year. So
it's a it's a significant uptack. And I bring this
up because it's not just you and I are aware
about it and we're discussing it. Law enforcement are aware
of it discussing it. So that's when they ramp up
activities to identify and appriand drunk drivers. And again through
the Drive Sober aget Pulled Over campaign that we run
in Virginia, we're going to be issuing the number of
(23:14):
law enforcement agencies that are going to be involved in
the second when we did it in August, there's nearly
two hundred Virginia law enforcement agencies that during the Labor
Day period they conducted I think it was over seven
hundred individual as saturation patrols in eighty six sobriety checkpoints
again as a means of identifying and appriand drunk drivers.
Speaker 3 (23:32):
So it's not just when you hear a holiday that oh.
Speaker 2 (23:34):
This increased percentage of likelihood of drum driving incidents, is
that law enforcement are ready for that.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Well, speaking of law enforcement, coming up on December twelfth,
at eight thirty to ten thirty, you've got a big
event coming up in his wraps, twenty eighth Annual Law
Enforcement Awards and holiday Sober Right Campaign kickoff. I know
this is a big deal because you're acknowledging law enforcement
who is so big in this and does so many
incredible selfless things out there. But also the the actual
Sober Right camping kickoff too, which is a big deal.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Yeah, So this is it's going to be a new
location for us. So it's on December twelve, which is
a Friday morning. It's actually going to be in Chevy Chase, Maryland.
We're honored to have the Maryland Lieutenant Governor Rona Miller
as our speaker, which we're delighted with.
Speaker 3 (24:18):
But it's an opportunity for us.
Speaker 2 (24:19):
To annually honor area law enforcement officers for their work
and impair driving prevention. So on that day we'll actually
be honoring eighteen law enforcement officers that are nominated by
their chiefs or their sheriff around the Beltway for their
efforts to serve. Really it's the front lines and the
fight against from driving. You know, we talk a lot
about RAPS programs and sober ide, make no mistake about it,
(24:41):
it's the men and women in uniform that are serving
as the front lines and this effort. So the least
that we can do is to honor them. And so
they get plaques which maybe they they're being stacked on
their desks, but they also get the accolydes from a
two hundred person road that gets to hear about the
work they've done. They also get wh Nationals tigts what's
the washing Nationals kindly provide for the twenty twenty six season,
(25:04):
and then Glory Days, Grill buys them dinner, which is
a really a nice effort just to again say thank
you for for they're really herald enough outstanding.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
That sounds like a great time. I did want to
ask you because so many listeners have asked me when
I've had you in the program that you never talked
about donations and how does Curtin wrap? How are they funded?
And you know you and I haven't talked about that
a lot, but I'd love to ask about how you're
funded and can people donate money, advocate, volunteer or anything
to help out RAP. Can you kind of address that.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
For us absolutely? First of all, I understand that we
are two things. We Wrap is a five o' one
C three charity, which means that all donations to Honest
are fully tax deductible as allowed by law. Two is
that even though I think we give the presents, I
kind of view it like the Don't Book, behind the
curtain of you know, a very larger organization. I think
(25:54):
Subriide has become so institutionalized that I think people think
that it's some big, phaseless government behind the scenes pulling
the levers one. In fact, it's a three person charitable
organization that keeps this program going and that annually strikes
a check for strokesure check for seventy eighty thousand dollars
just on fares a loan for that program. But being
a Fogle and C three, people can donate to us
(26:16):
directly and we're really easy. I can't give you an
easier website than wrap dot org. So it's wr AP
stands for the Washington Regional Alcohol Program wrapped dot org.
You can go there and on the very first page
tells you how to maxi taxiductible donation through PayPal. You
don't have to have a PayPal account, it's just you
can do it.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
By credit card. We would welcome that support.
Speaker 2 (26:38):
Help.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
We're generally funded.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
In general is public support general business, and then are
public partners, so from the DC Highway Safety Office, the
Maryland high Wey Safety Office, and the Virginia Department or
Motor Vehicles are our key public partners. But then if
you look at any of our sub right materials, you'll
see a number of private encities that are involved in
this effort as well.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
So whether it be Enterprise.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
Run a Car, or the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility
or the Chessbeak Region Safety Counsel and others that have
joined in this effort to knowing that you know, Joe
driving is one hundred percent preventable.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
What can we do to create a safety.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Net, especially during this high risk, high alcohol consumption periods.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
Kurt, I only have two minutes left, so I want
to do this. I want to let you know and
let the listeners know how to actually activate sober ride anytime,
but especially during the holidays, how they can do that,
and then just get some final thoughts from you. So
the floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, So when we do this program at anytime during
the year, and we do it on six times during
the year, where we actually are offering people a free
safe right home through our lift partnership LAFT, which is
our right share partner, and all people need to do
is to go to sober ride dot com. So we
mentioned one website, wrapp dot org. But then sober Ride
s O b e r ride dot com. At any
(27:52):
of those holidays you go there, We're going to publish
a code.
Speaker 3 (27:55):
You simply put that code into.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
Your left app if you don't already have Lift downloaded
to your FOE, do that, but then enter the sober
ride code and the apps payment tab and it pays
for up to a fifteen dollars fare during any of
this given holidays. Just so you know, and I think Dennis,
you and I have talked about it more that the
average fare for this program is less than fifteen dollars.
It really does capture the majority of people home. But
(28:18):
even if you're a fair is twenty, we'll still play
you from the first fifteen. So you do that, you
put that into your code into your phone, and it'll
be We'll actually be publishing two different codes this year.
One on December nineteen, which is the first round of
sober id that we'll be offering through New Year's and
then of course New Year's which is always a huge
night for us, on December thirty. First, we'll be publishing
(28:39):
the code again on silbroad dot com. That'll be a
second code just for use that evening, which I think
we did over eleven hundred rides last New Year, So
we're anticipating at least those numbers, especially with the Halloween
numbers that we talked about recently.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Right any you were saying at the top our interview,
at least the numbers are going up with people using
sober Ride, which is encouraging and that you're making a difference.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
But the program is only as good as a number
of people that use.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
It and the number of incidents that were hopefully deterring
in terms of drunk driving around it Again, when you've
had ninety nine thousand people utilize this program rather than
driving home and paid of God and believe it it's
contributing at least to the Greater Washing area being below
the national average of all traffic deaths that involved from drivers.
And the fact that we're positively below that national average
(29:25):
in a good way.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Let's give the website one more time card yep SO.
Speaker 3 (29:29):
Washington Regional outcol Program.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's abbreviated of wrap so wrapped dot order will tell
you about any of the programs that we discussed and
by the way, the school based program, you workplace program,
sober ride or all free and if you just want
to know about the free safe Right service that we're
on various holidays including next month, So for the holidays Deceummer.
Speaker 3 (29:45):
Nineteenth through January first, you can go to sober.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
Ride dot com so b e r r Ide dot com.
Speaker 3 (29:52):
We'll tell you more about this local life saving program.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Kurt's great to have you on the show again. Thank
you so much. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
And that's happy holidays. Thanks for gonna song.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.