March 12, 2025 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow welcomes back WRAP President Kury Erickson and special guest Rick Birt who serves as the Director of the Washington, DC Highway Safety Office (HSO). With St. Patrick's Day upon us, we talk remind everyone about driving while impaired and the serious epercussions that result in it holiday or not.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
to the program Kurt Ericson, who is the president of RAP,
also known as the Washington Regional Alcohol Program, and his
special guests, the director from the DC Highway Safety Office,
Rick Burt, with another big drinking holiday upon us with
Saint Patrick's Day. It's a great time to have Kurt
(00:22):
and Rick on to remind you about the horrors that
can fall upon you if you drive while impaired. Here's
my conversation with the guys. I hope you enjoy it
as much as I did. Good morning, Kurt, Good morning, Ricky.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Good morning, Dennis. Good you with you.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Good morning Dennis.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
All right, well Kurt, it's that time, my holidays right
around the corner. In fact, as we air this, it's
going to be tomorrow Saint Patrick's Day, and I love
to talk to you and RAP and about Sober Ride.
And then Rick, of course from the director of the
Washington Highway Safety and Office, is going to give us
a good look see and another set of eyes on
what is happening around the district and for everybody else
and not just for holidays, folks, I think in general
(00:57):
when it comes to drinking and driving, being under the
influence when you are operating a motor vehicle. But Kurt,
let's do this for our listeners that probably haven't been
introduced before. I know you're a regular guest, but just overall,
what do we give a thirty thousand foot view and
tell our listeners what RAP does?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Sure So, WRAP stands for the Washington Regional Alcohol Program,
which is a forty three year old nonprofit that's been
around since nineteen eighty two fighting drunk driving and underage drinking.
We do it through public education, innovative health education programs,
and advocacy. But I think if your listeners know us
at all, they know us through a free, free, safe
(01:33):
right service that we've done since nineteen ninety one, Cold
Sober Ride, which offers an alternative to drunk driving on
specific holidays throughout the year in the Great Washing area.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
And then Rick, I gave the title to everybody, But
why don't you tell everybody when it comes to HSO
exactly what you and your team do.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Absolutely so, the Highway Safety Office works all across the
distrim of Columbia, whether you walk, bike, roll, drive whoever
you choose to get around and enjoy our world class attractions,
nightline culture, all the things that make DC in our
neighborhood so vibrant. However you do that, we want you
to make sure that you get where you're going safely.
We talk about being united as we go. We move
as one Our actions impact one another. So we do
(02:12):
a variety of education, outreach, communication projects to really engage
the whole community. And under Mayor Bowser's direction, we award
about twelve million dollars each year in federal funding to
community organizations like RAP to support innovative improve in programs.
They're going to move us closer to Vision zero and
help eliminate roadway fatalities. You know, KURR.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
One of the nice things when I get a chance
to visit with you during these holidays and we talk
about drinking and driving and how everybody should be safe
out there, not only during the holidays, but three sixty five,
twenty four seven around the clock. You've got these great partnerships,
and maybe you could talk about this specific partnership. I
know there's a lot out there with different agencies, but
can you talk about this one for us?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, So the well. First of all, let me you know,
Rick is being modest.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
He's been there for almost two years, and it has
been revolutionary in terms of the change that the DC
Highy Safety Office is done, in terms of reaching that
municipality's goal of zero highway desks. And I say that
because not only are they adding additional resources to us,
including programs like Silver Right, but they brought in a
whole bunch of other grantees and a whole bunch of
(03:17):
other initiatives that they're doing, you.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Know, from enforcement to education and everything in between.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
So we're delighted to be a DC Highy Safety Office grantee,
but it fortifies our efforts.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I mean, give you an example. So, for the first
time ever this.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Year we were able to do a sober right campaign
on Super Bowl, So, you know, a sober right we
do historically on seet Patrick.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Stag which we're in the midst of sant Go to Mayo, Independence.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Day, Halloween, and the winter holidays usually the two or
three weeks leading up to and including New Year's But
this year, because of additional resources, we were able to
offer this kind of this safety valve to this high risk,
high alcohol consumption period. In Super Bowl is one of
them to take over two undred In fact, the exact
number was two hundred and thirty would be drum drivers
(04:05):
off of our shared roadways just earlier, well just last month.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Well let's do this, Rick, I'd love you to give
us a behind the scenes because I don't want to
make any assumptions. But when it comes to what you
and your team do, I imagine there's a couple things.
When things happen, you learn from them. So that's one
thing about researching when accidents or deaths happen, and drinking
and driving, but also imagine there's a lot of preventative
measures that you learn from not only your jurisdiction, from
(04:31):
people around the country. So can you give us a
little bit more behind the scenes about what happens and
what you do.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Absolutely, you know, Dennis, the hardest part of our job
is when we get the notification that we have trashally
lost someone on our roads. Because we know that one
hundred percent of these crashes are preventable. There are horrible
things in our world that we can't control. But how
would choose to drive? I would choose to move around.
We can control that, and so our message to everyone
(04:57):
is really quite simple. However you move, make sure you
do it, say fleeing with others in mind. So we
do that through as Kurt said, these grants that we
award this year, Maya Bowser has been graciou stuff toward,
as I mentioned, twelve million dollars to forty eight different
agencies that are both government agencies, nonprofits, university partners that
are working each and every day to try new innovative
(05:19):
approaches to change the culture. That's really what we need
to do. You know, we've been talking about in paired
driving for four decades now, and unfortunately we still have
individuals who make that selfish and illegal decision to get
behind the wheel impaired by drugs or alcohol. And so
we rely, you know, heavily on our educational campaigns to
help folks know that when you live in a vibrant
(05:41):
place like Washington, d C. With a world class metro system,
able ride shares, abilities to call designated drivers, that this
is a problem that we should have solved, and quite frankly,
don us we can solve. We can solve in paired
driving by getting that message out, making sure people utilize
programs like sober Ride, so that they make that plan
(06:02):
and get home safely. So that's really the crust of
our work. And then you know, when people do choose
to drive impaired, that's when we rely on our law
enforcement partners. The Metropolitan Police Department in Chief Smith have
been incredible partners and really making sure that we're being
very inclusive and being very intentional in how we conduct
our enforcement. That we're going after those risky drivers that
(06:23):
are putting all of us, our pedestrians or bicyclists, those
of us who are on the road as drivers, anyone
who's at risk, that's who we're looking at, and that's
who we're messaging to because we know that driving is
an art and a science, but above all else, it's
a privilege. And if you choose to drive impaired in
this sort of Columbia, you will be caught and you
will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
(06:44):
So let's use those preventative measures and get everyone home safely.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Good words. I want to ask you about stats in
just a second, Rick, BUTUD as a DC resident, it's
already wacky enough folks to drive in DC and you
have to have your head on a swivel when it
comes to drivers weather, the twist and turns in d
see and the people that are delivering food. I mean,
it's really nonsensical at times. And Rick makes a good
point about all that. And I did want to ask
you about statistics, Rick, whether it's your two years there
(07:10):
or maybe just overall when it comes to numbers of
drinking and driving. And hopefully there haven't been a lot
of fatalities, but are things even are they going up,
they're coming down a little bit. Where are we at
with everything?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, Unfortunately we continue to see about a third of
our fatalities each year are consistently tied to impaired driving.
And again, while we're talking today about alcoholm pair driving,
we're also mindful of drug impair driving of other things
that impair us. The saying if you feel different, you
drive different, really is an important message to get out
to folks because whether that's an illegal substance, whether that's cannabis,
(07:44):
whether that's alcohol, whether that's a prescription drug or an
over counter medication, anything that you take that affects your
response time, your reflexes, your ability to process information. Truly,
if you feel different, then you're going to be driving differently.
And again, we live in a place that has so
many options to get where we're going and get where
we're going safely. Our metros are taxi partners, our rideshare partners.
(08:08):
We have a lot of resources at our disposals, so
there really is no reason to put yourself or someone
else at risk. You need to get where you're going.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And Kurt, how about you when it comes to the DMV,
how we doing statistically right now? Just overall?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Well, it's ironic you asked that because actually we have
a report that we haven't even put online yet. But
for the last thirty some odd years of the nonprofit,
Rapids teamed up with COGG, the Council of Governments to
call data not just how we're doing in any one locality,
but in all of the localities around in the DC metroiders,
which we define as Montgomery County and Prince George County
and Maryland the district, but then also Arlington, Fairfax, Latin
(08:46):
and Prince William And you know, we're launch totally. Over
the decades, drung triming has gone down, and that's great,
but what we're starting to see now, especially you know
during COVID we really married what was happening at the
national levels that we were seeing incidents of fatal drunk
driving incidents actually on the rise. This latest report that
we have that we're about to put online it is
(09:06):
for twenty twenty three numbers. And in that case, the
good news is that drunk driving injuries went down to
the Greater Washing area, so did crashes.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
The number of drunk driving arrests went down.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
That's not always a good thing in terms of the
empowerment of law enforcement, as they sold total about nine
thousand a year.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
But it's drunk driving fatalities is the big red flag year.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Not only did they go up over four percent between
twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three, but they went
up for a second.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Year in a row.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
That's where you know the issue is, that's the concerning issue.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
And as Rick said specifically right now.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
In the Greater Washington area well over Courter, twenty eight
percent of all traffic deaths in Greater Washington involved drum drivers,
meaning that they're one hundred percent prevent them.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Well, I want to ask you both about education and Kerr.
Let's start with you, and it's something that Rick had
brought up and Kurr, You've also been nice enough to
get a previous guest on this program and talk to
officers that sometimes are either in charge of a whole
group of people that are out there doing DUI checkpoints
in the DMV, or you know they're actually out there
or they've done it at one time or another. And
(10:14):
Rick talked about medications and that comes for whether it's
a legal or legal drugs, and I think there's got
to be an education for people that a lot of
people know not to drink and drive, even though some
choose to still do that. But I imagine there's a
lot of people that are medicated, whether it's legal or illegal,
thinking it's okay to get behind the wheel. And imagine
when it comes to education that's still new to a
(10:36):
lot of people that you're not supposed to do that
and get behind the wheel when you do things like that.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
That's one of the reasons that we both have utilized
materials produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with
the tagline that if you feel different, you drive different.
And that's usually relegated to prescription drugs, but not just
prescription drugs. We could be talking about any even legal substances,
especially when you have recreational marijuana use in DC, Maryland
(11:02):
or Virginia. And unfortunately, when you have that, what's the
usually follow is crash rates usually go up when states
legalized recreational use.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
And retail sales in marijuana.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
So it's a constant environment to educate people that it's
not just you know, alcohol that can be the impairing substance.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
It could be alcohol in or drugs. And I would
underline the and there for.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
The fact that we're really talking about more cases than
not poly users that we're seeing both alcohol and drugs,
and the drugs might surprise you. In the district as
recently as the last couple of years, the amount of
persons we just said twenty eight percent of all fatals
in the in the Greater Washington area involve alcohol, but
that's pretty close about I think it was about twenty
(11:42):
percent fifteen to twenty percent that involved PCP.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
In the district. And so yeah, so there's just a
constant challenge.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
One of the ways that challenge has met though, is
law enforcement stepping up their efforts to identify and apprehend
impair drivers.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
And one of the things that's being done.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
That's really a pioneering effort in Montgomery County where they're
doing green labs. You know, wet labs are usually when
law enforcement get persons dosed with alcohol and they can
have police cadets or new trainees do state and field
sobriety tests. You're doing the same thing in Montgomery County
with persons that otherwise than just cannabis and to look
for signs of impairment there. They've even gone so far
(12:22):
as to have and I love this is to have
a persons that have ingested cannabis to operate on a
go kart track with drones flying overhead and with.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Detours.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
They'll go around the track once, but then they'll be
asked to go a different way.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
How quickly they can respond to that as a really
telling sign.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Well, that's fascinating, and Rick, I think we should continue
this part of the conversation because it's going it's still
new to a lot of people. And when I talked
about education, this is also the police officers that have
to be educated too. Now I imagine there's been a
lot of comps out there that have been at a
DUI checkpoint and can immediately look in somebody's eyes or
they could smell alcohol. But drugs, whether it's medication, it's
(13:05):
legal or illegal, is a whole different thing, including the
testing of it. So I know we're still in the
infantile stages of recognizing that. But the education of the
police force out there this is paramount because it's out
there everywhere. I mean, there's so many states that have
legalized it, and whether it is legal or not, people
are doing it. So the education in the officers has
just got to be a big deal. Like Kurta talked about.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, absolutely, you know, we like to say that regardless
of the legalities, right, what we care about is getting
the message out that again, it's about personal choice and
about making sure you have a plan. If you feel different,
then you need to have a plan on hiring at
home safely, no matter what's impairing you. And so we
work very closely with MPD and our federal partners to
(13:47):
make sure that they have the training and resources to
make those kind of detections. Just as you described, Dennis.
One of the ways that we're doing that is by
performing trainings around what's called a ride Advanced roadside Impairment
driving enforcement. This is a pro through the National Habit
Traffic Safety Administration where we specifically train officers on how
to spot impairing substances that are drug based. Cannabis, PCP,
(14:10):
pract cocaine are all leading substances that we see up
and down the Eastern c Board. DC is certainly not
immune to any of those, and so we want to
make sure our officers know what those warning signs are.
And as Kurt said, it's usually an ant right there, right,
you know, it's usually alcohol and another substance. Folks are
in social situations. They don't have malicious intent. They consume alcohol,
(14:32):
they consume and impair and another impairing substance. And it's not
an A plus B equals C. It's not a one
plus one equals too. It's more like eight of the
fifth times B to the sixth right, because there are
so many nuances and how the body metabolizes those substances.
How you consume cannabis, for example, if you consume it
via a smoke form, if you consume it as an edible,
(14:53):
if you use it as a dad, all of those
are going to metabolize differently in the system. And the
H the TC, the active in it is going to
be metabolized differently. So I don't want to give our
listeners a biology lesson today, but I do want to
get this point across that Again, it's not so much
just what you're consuming, it's how you're consuming it, when
you're consuming it, and making sure you leave that distance
(15:14):
in order to be able to drive safely. And that's
why we should always have a plan on how to
get home when we choose to consume those substances.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
No, I'm glad you did, Rick, and Rick if I
could continue something else. When it comes to drinking and
driving or medicated this is like a scared straight episode
all of a sudden that I'm about to ask you.
But there are severe penalties for drinking and driving or
being under the influence, and that includes drugs. Are they
different though? Is there a difference between alcohol and medication,
whether legal or not. And I'd like you to maybe
(15:45):
talk about some of the things that people are up
against if it would happened to them.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah. Absolutely. We're proud to support the Office of the
Attorney General here in DC who prosecutes those cases. Our
office specifically funds five DUI prosecutors who every year manage
a caseloaded over two thousand DUI cases in DC. It's
a scary reality of of what are our court systems seeing,
(16:10):
and they are severe penalties. It will cost you upwards
of ten thousand dollars and fees, lawyer costs. All of
those elements. Think about the fact that we take back
your privilege, as I keep saying, it's a privilege to drive,
So we take that back because you obviously cannot safely
operate a vehicle, So we take back that program. And
we also require what's called an adision interlock device moving forward.
(16:32):
So this is a life saving, proven countermeasure. It's the
device that can be placed in the vehicle where you
are then required to blow into that device every time
before you start your vehicle to document improve your sobriety.
And again we don't do have to be punitive, but again,
you've chosen and made the selfish choice to be an
impaired driver, and this is one way that we can
make sure that history does not repeat itself. Those also
(16:54):
come with stiff expenses and costs. So again, when you
weigh piculately with a program like sober Ride, where it
is a fifteen dollars credit to get home safely. You
weigh that two dollars and fifty cent metro fare versus
the ten thousand dollars plus you're going to spend an
I pair driving fees related to a DUI. Whether you
(17:15):
are a drugs driving alcohol im pair driving prescription drug,
the laws is no difference. So you are putting others
in yourself at risk and that is a serious crime.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
All right, well, thank you for that, Rick, and yeah, Kirk, Dennis.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I should not go. I should not go.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
That Rich perfectly captured the interlock program, but it's the
same program that's utilized in the neighboring states as well.
The majority of US state didn't have that, and certainly
the district Maryland or Virginia have all of that.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
So whether it's your first or your thirty first.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
DUI, if you get convicted of a DUI, and the
Districtive Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, it's not up to a judge's
description or a possible penalty. You are going to be
mandated to have these in car breatalyzers installed on your
vehicle that will prevent you or anybody from operating your vehicle.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
If the sensor senys that the driver's been drinking.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
And that's also a good segue because it was mentioned Kurt.
Let's talk about sober ride in how people can use
that not only for Saint Patrick's Day, folks, but for
any holiday or if you're out and about why don't
you kind of from soup to nuts, Kirt tell everybody
how it works.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Well, First of all, I should say that we're doing
something unique this year with the program. We're in the
middle of the Saint patrich Day weekend, but we're offering
this not just on Saint Patrick's Day, which is Monday,
March seventeenth. We've been offering it on from Saturday to Monday,
So Saturday, March fifteenth through Sunday, excuse me, Saturday March
fifteenth through Monday, March seventeenth, which is actually Saint Patrick Day,
(18:38):
each night from four pm to four am. If anybody's
a legal drinking age in the DC area again, which
is Montgomery County and Prince George County, the District of Columbia, Arlington, Fairfax, Labder, Prince.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
William, all they need to do is to go to
sober ride dot com. It's s O B E. R.
Rid dot com.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
They'll see a code that they can put into their
lift app lyft that's our rive share provider. They put
it under the payment tab and they can be afforded
a safe in a sober way home. As Rick mentioned it,
it's a fifteen dollars credit, but quite frankly, the average
sober riet is less than fifteen dollars, So really we'll
take the majority of people home. But let's say you're
ride is twenty, we're still paying for the first fifteen.
(19:17):
You're simply going to be on the hook for five.
We had over five hundred people and utilize this program
last Saint Potters Day, meaning that they did the right
thing to avail themselves to this local life saving offering
rather than driving home and pair. I think over a
three day period we're hoping for a lot larger ridership,
but again, the program is only as good as a
number of people that use it.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Agreed, Agreed, Rick. I wanted to talk about the police officers,
and I don't know how much interaction you have, but
when you do get feedback and you do talk about
experiences and how to get better, what are you hearing
from some of the officers that are actually boots on
the ground out there when it comes to these checkpoints.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, I'm really fortunate to have a lot of direct
contacts with the incredible women of law enforcement, no matter
where they are, right from Prince George's County to hear
in the district and Alexander, just incredible people who truly
do have a heart for servant leadership and giving back
to our community. The thing that always hunts me is,
you know, I oftentimes ask our officers how they're doing.
You know, what's the toughest part of their job? Every
(20:13):
time Dennis an officer has told me the worst part
of their job is arriving on the scene of a crash,
seeing that it is turned fatal and then having to
make that subsequent notification to a partner, a mom, a dad,
a loved one who is now robbed of of that
loved one because of something that we know is totally preventable.
And so, you know, we oftentimes talk about the incredible
(20:36):
work of many of our partners who work with the
victims of impair driving, but we forget how just horrifying
and scarring these crashes are for our law enforcement as well,
and the residual effect that they feel each time they
see this happen again and again and again because of
something that we've been talking about for four decades that
we have the cure for, and yet it continues on.
(20:56):
So we try to support our officers in the right
aways and only with training, but also equipment by trying
new and innovative tactics. One of the things that's happening
right now in the District of Columbia, we're doing a
pilot called safety Corridors. We have something in the district
called our High our high injury network HI in This
is five percent of our roadways that accounts for fifty
percent of our serious crashes, injuries and fatalities. And so
(21:19):
what we've done is we've picked two segments of this
high injury network to do dedicated enforcement. Two or the
most dangerous segments are on New York Avenue and on
South Capitol Avenue. And if you've driven, Dennis, I know,
I know you've driven those roads before you noticed how
dangerous they can be because of drivers choices and the
litany of challenges that we face. And so drivers will
(21:40):
see increased signage, they will see increased MPD enforcement. We've
done a number of media campaigns and outreach to let
people know that we are cracking down on risky driving,
whether it be in pair driving, not wearing re seat belts, speeding,
or using the phone. We're like, we're all so addicted
to our our tech. That's one thing that we're doing.
We're also doing and continuing Chiefsmiths weekly traffic safety checkpoints.
(22:04):
I'd plot MPD at these checkpoints. I believe they've given
out over sixty car seats over the course of the
last year. I think that's the number, but dozens of
dozens of car seats. We're proud to continue working with
them to make over three thousand free car seats available
to district residents so that this can be another life
saving tool, as well as giving out bicycle homets at
(22:26):
every MPD precinct and as well as our motorcycle homets
as well. So MPD is really trying to be an
engaged part of the community. They're trying to be part
of the solution because we know how hard this is
on our officers and certainly how hard it is in
our community, especially when it's totally preventable.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
All right, well, thank you for that, Rick kurt I
know that, you know, we're not in a contest with
everybody else around the country. But when you get to
talk to your contemporaries out there and your peers and
I know that you get board of directors and you
have events and you're planning for the next beex thing. Kurt,
how are we doing against the rest of the country.
Are we the road? Are we at at high average
in the DMV? Are we lower? Where are we at
(23:03):
with everything when it comes to the United States?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
There are some good news there, which is that historically
we've been below the national average in a good way
in terms of the percentage of all traffic deaths that
involve drum drivers. In other words, as we said earlier
that it's twenty eight percent of all traffic deaths at
least in the Greater Washing Area that involved drum drivers.
That figures in the thirties at the national level. So
that's a good thing, and it's probably because of what
(23:27):
Rick said that there's a high knowledge level about the
issue with there's a good public transportation infrastructure. You've got
both cabs, you've got brind share, you've got pedestrian ability
to travel, a high degree of mobility. But the fact
of the matter is when we've got, you know, our
second year in a row, these one hundred percent preventable
fatalities going back upwards, it's certainly a red flag that
(23:49):
we need to do more.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And I underscore what Rick said about the law enforcement partners.
You know, as good as.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Any of our sober ride and prevention and education efforts
might be, it's the men and women in uniform that
service the front lines in this effort. It's one of
the reasons that we the Washington Redral Alcohol Program team
up with the DC Highway Safety, Elvis and our other
public partners to recognize law enforcement and something that we've
done for twenty seven years with our law Enforcement Awards
that we do each December, and this past December, we
(24:15):
recognize seventeen different law enforcement officers for again serving us
these front lawns.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Understanding, well, that's just great news. Well, Rick, I want
to do this. I do want to get some final thoughts.
We've got it buy maybe five six minutes left. But
I know that you're always looking towards the future too.
You talked about a new program that is coming up.
As you look down the road. The next couple of years,
not only for technology, but getting better what you do
with you and your team, and of course with the
great officers that are on the streets. What are you
(24:41):
looking forward to or what are you working on that
you can share with us.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, one thing that it's immediate is that summer will
be here before we know it. Right. I know that
we're still we're still recovering emotionally from winter, but now
we're thinking about summer and all the wonderful things that
happened across the DMV throughout the summer months. We're working
on a new Safe Summer campaign to really drive home
the fact that here in DC and across the DMB,
(25:06):
summer has been one of our deadliest seasons. We typically
see between the period of Memorial Day and Labor Day
an increase in the number of roadway fatalities. In fact,
it's come to be known as the one hundred Deadliest
Days because our summer months do tend to be so dangerous.
So we're trying to ramp up our education and communication efforts,
working with law enforcement on what we can do to
(25:26):
make this a safe summer season. I think you're right
that longer term, technology has lots of promise. You know,
I hope our listeners will if if they have an
Android or an Apple device, will take the time to
activate that safe driving mode. That's one way to reduce
the temptation to be distracted behind the wheel. And then
you know, they'll leverage the resources that are out there
(25:47):
from great partners like wrap responsibility dot org, who has
their virtual bar, all things that we can use to
make sure that we're taking accountability for our actions, how
we move, and then working together to help everyone get
home safely.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
And I imagine Rick and this deserves its own interview
in conversation, but with AI and algorithms and not only
the statistics say you currently have and then once again,
boots on the ground out there, I imagine once again
that's going to get things safer as we work with
technology the best way possible with you and your team.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, Dennis, that's a cannon worms right there, my friend.
You know, I'm optimistic, certainly optimistic about the future and
how we look at how stages of autonomy I think
will benefit. But we also know that the age of
the vehicle fleet is getting older, and older people are
hanging on to their cars longer. And longer, and so
I think it's going to be a long time before
the fleet all the cars on the road as we
(26:38):
call it, really do flip over to where we see
the life saving benefits that many of those devices have
to offer. But now a lot of drivers safety assistant
technology that's out there that folks can take advantage of.
They can visit IIHS dot org, the Insurance Institutes for
Auto on Highway Safety, some great recommendations how to pick
a safe vehicle for you or your team driver.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
All right, well, Kurt, we've got about maybe two minutes left,
so maybe some final thoughts from you, sir.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Well, first of all, let me tell you that anything
that we talked about in terms of the WRAP umbrella
resource by the DC OBVIOUSLYFDO is you can go to
WRAP dot org again it stands for the Washington Regional
Alcohol Program so of WRIP dot org. If you just
want to know about the free safe right service again
that we offer on various holidays, but right now for
Saint Patrick Jay all the way until four am on Tuesday,
(27:25):
March eighteenth, they can go to sober ride dot com
so O B E r RD dot com. That's also
the place where you can get the code again. You
get a code, you put it into your lift app.
The program is good for new and existing lift users,
and we'll give you a safe and a sober way
home all the way again until four am this Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
That's standing and then direct some final thoughts from you.
Got about a minute and a half.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Pure drivings preventable, Dennis. We've been talking about it for decades.
There's no excuse to put your line for someone else's
life at risk. Mayor Bowser's working hard to make DC
streets and our whole region save. We have a world
class transportation network. Use the Metro, find sober, find a
sober driver, you sober ride over the holidays, and get
home safely. It's it's truly that.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Simple, little common sense, right, gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Exactly?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Yeah, yes, well listen, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Kurt.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
It's always great to see and talk with you and Rick.
Welcome to community, DC. I hope we get a chance
to visit with you again. Thank you for all the
hard work you and your team do. We're very appreciative.
And let's just stay safe out there everybody. And then uh,
I guess Kurt, we're going to talk to you with
the next big holiday coming up? Well, what have we
got coming up? I guess maybe July fourth and Halloween
and then.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Too actually.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Out all right, well good hey, gentlemen, thank you so
much for joining us on Community DC and we really
appreciate the visit today, Happy Patrick Day, Thanks soon.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
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(30:00):
The
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome back
to the program Kurt Ericson, who is the president of RAP,
also known as the Washington Regional Alcohol Program, and his
special guests, the director from the DC Highway Safety Office,
Rick Burt, with another big drinking holiday upon us with
Saint Patrick's Day. It's a great time to have Kurt
(00:22):
and Rick on to remind you about the horrors that
can fall upon you if you drive while impaired. Here's
my conversation with the guys. I hope you enjoy it
as much as I did. Good morning, Kurt, Good morning, Ricky.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Good morning, Dennis. Good you with you.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Good morning Dennis.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
All right, well Kurt, it's that time, my holidays right
around the corner. In fact, as we air this, it's
going to be tomorrow Saint Patrick's Day, and I love
to talk to you and RAP and about Sober Ride.
And then Rick, of course from the director of the
Washington Highway Safety and Office, is going to give us
a good look see and another set of eyes on
what is happening around the district and for everybody else
and not just for holidays, folks, I think in general
(00:57):
when it comes to drinking and driving, being under the
influence when you are operating a motor vehicle. But Kurt,
let's do this for our listeners that probably haven't been
introduced before. I know you're a regular guest, but just overall,
what do we give a thirty thousand foot view and
tell our listeners what RAP does?
Speaker 4 (01:13):
Sure So, WRAP stands for the Washington Regional Alcohol Program,
which is a forty three year old nonprofit that's been
around since nineteen eighty two fighting drunk driving and underage drinking.
We do it through public education, innovative health education programs,
and advocacy. But I think if your listeners know us
at all, they know us through a free, free, safe
(01:33):
right service that we've done since nineteen ninety one, Cold
Sober Ride, which offers an alternative to drunk driving on
specific holidays throughout the year in the Great Washing area.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
And then Rick, I gave the title to everybody, But
why don't you tell everybody when it comes to HSO
exactly what you and your team do.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Absolutely so, the Highway Safety Office works all across the
distrim of Columbia, whether you walk, bike, roll, drive whoever
you choose to get around and enjoy our world class attractions,
nightline culture, all the things that make DC in our
neighborhood so vibrant. However you do that, we want you
to make sure that you get where you're going safely.
We talk about being united as we go. We move
as one Our actions impact one another. So we do
(02:12):
a variety of education, outreach, communication projects to really engage
the whole community. And under Mayor Bowser's direction, we award
about twelve million dollars each year in federal funding to
community organizations like RAP to support innovative improve in programs.
They're going to move us closer to Vision zero and
help eliminate roadway fatalities. You know, KURR.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
One of the nice things when I get a chance
to visit with you during these holidays and we talk
about drinking and driving and how everybody should be safe
out there, not only during the holidays, but three sixty five,
twenty four seven around the clock. You've got these great partnerships,
and maybe you could talk about this specific partnership. I
know there's a lot out there with different agencies, but
can you talk about this one for us?
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Yeah, So the well. First of all, let me you know,
Rick is being modest.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
He's been there for almost two years, and it has
been revolutionary in terms of the change that the DC
Highy Safety Office is done, in terms of reaching that
municipality's goal of zero highway desks. And I say that
because not only are they adding additional resources to us,
including programs like Silver Right, but they brought in a
whole bunch of other grantees and a whole bunch of
(03:17):
other initiatives that they're doing, you.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Know, from enforcement to education and everything in between.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
So we're delighted to be a DC Highy Safety Office grantee,
but it fortifies our efforts.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
I mean, give you an example. So, for the first
time ever this.
Speaker 4 (03:31):
Year we were able to do a sober right campaign
on Super Bowl, So, you know, a sober right we
do historically on seet Patrick.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
Stag which we're in the midst of sant Go to Mayo, Independence.
Speaker 4 (03:42):
Day, Halloween, and the winter holidays usually the two or
three weeks leading up to and including New Year's But
this year, because of additional resources, we were able to
offer this kind of this safety valve to this high risk,
high alcohol consumption period. In Super Bowl is one of
them to take over two undred In fact, the exact
number was two hundred and thirty would be drum drivers
(04:05):
off of our shared roadways just earlier, well just last month.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
Well let's do this, Rick, I'd love you to give
us a behind the scenes because I don't want to
make any assumptions. But when it comes to what you
and your team do, I imagine there's a couple things.
When things happen, you learn from them. So that's one
thing about researching when accidents or deaths happen, and drinking
and driving, but also imagine there's a lot of preventative
measures that you learn from not only your jurisdiction, from
(04:31):
people around the country. So can you give us a
little bit more behind the scenes about what happens and
what you do.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Absolutely, you know, Dennis, the hardest part of our job
is when we get the notification that we have trashally
lost someone on our roads. Because we know that one
hundred percent of these crashes are preventable. There are horrible
things in our world that we can't control. But how
would choose to drive? I would choose to move around.
We can control that, and so our message to everyone
(04:57):
is really quite simple. However you move, make sure you
do it, say fleeing with others in mind. So we
do that through as Kurt said, these grants that we
award this year, Maya Bowser has been graciou stuff toward,
as I mentioned, twelve million dollars to forty eight different
agencies that are both government agencies, nonprofits, university partners that
are working each and every day to try new innovative
(05:19):
approaches to change the culture. That's really what we need
to do. You know, we've been talking about in paired
driving for four decades now, and unfortunately we still have
individuals who make that selfish and illegal decision to get
behind the wheel impaired by drugs or alcohol. And so
we rely, you know, heavily on our educational campaigns to
help folks know that when you live in a vibrant
(05:41):
place like Washington, d C. With a world class metro system,
able ride shares, abilities to call designated drivers, that this
is a problem that we should have solved, and quite frankly,
don us we can solve. We can solve in paired
driving by getting that message out, making sure people utilize
programs like sober Ride, so that they make that plan
(06:02):
and get home safely. So that's really the crust of
our work. And then you know, when people do choose
to drive impaired, that's when we rely on our law
enforcement partners. The Metropolitan Police Department in Chief Smith have
been incredible partners and really making sure that we're being
very inclusive and being very intentional in how we conduct
our enforcement. That we're going after those risky drivers that
(06:23):
are putting all of us, our pedestrians or bicyclists, those
of us who are on the road as drivers, anyone
who's at risk, that's who we're looking at, and that's
who we're messaging to because we know that driving is
an art and a science, but above all else, it's
a privilege. And if you choose to drive impaired in
this sort of Columbia, you will be caught and you
will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
(06:44):
So let's use those preventative measures and get everyone home safely.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Good words. I want to ask you about stats in
just a second, Rick, BUTUD as a DC resident, it's
already wacky enough folks to drive in DC and you
have to have your head on a swivel when it
comes to drivers weather, the twist and turns in d
see and the people that are delivering food. I mean,
it's really nonsensical at times. And Rick makes a good
point about all that. And I did want to ask
you about statistics, Rick, whether it's your two years there
(07:10):
or maybe just overall when it comes to numbers of
drinking and driving. And hopefully there haven't been a lot
of fatalities, but are things even are they going up,
they're coming down a little bit. Where are we at
with everything?
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, Unfortunately we continue to see about a third of
our fatalities each year are consistently tied to impaired driving.
And again, while we're talking today about alcoholm pair driving,
we're also mindful of drug impair driving of other things
that impair us. The saying if you feel different, you
drive different, really is an important message to get out
to folks because whether that's an illegal substance, whether that's cannabis,
(07:44):
whether that's alcohol, whether that's a prescription drug or an
over counter medication, anything that you take that affects your
response time, your reflexes, your ability to process information. Truly,
if you feel different, then you're going to be driving differently.
And again, we live in a place that has so
many options to get where we're going and get where
we're going safely. Our metros are taxi partners, our rideshare partners.
(08:08):
We have a lot of resources at our disposals, so
there really is no reason to put yourself or someone
else at risk. You need to get where you're going.
Speaker 1 (08:17):
And Kurt, how about you when it comes to the DMV,
how we doing statistically right now? Just overall?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
Well, it's ironic you asked that because actually we have
a report that we haven't even put online yet. But
for the last thirty some odd years of the nonprofit,
Rapids teamed up with COGG, the Council of Governments to
call data not just how we're doing in any one locality,
but in all of the localities around in the DC metroiders,
which we define as Montgomery County and Prince George County
and Maryland the district, but then also Arlington, Fairfax, Latin
(08:46):
and Prince William And you know, we're launch totally. Over
the decades, drung triming has gone down, and that's great,
but what we're starting to see now, especially you know
during COVID we really married what was happening at the
national levels that we were seeing incidents of fatal drunk
driving incidents actually on the rise. This latest report that
we have that we're about to put online it is
(09:06):
for twenty twenty three numbers. And in that case, the
good news is that drunk driving injuries went down to
the Greater Washing area, so did crashes.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
The number of drunk driving arrests went down.
Speaker 4 (09:16):
That's not always a good thing in terms of the
empowerment of law enforcement, as they sold total about nine
thousand a year.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
But it's drunk driving fatalities is the big red flag year.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Not only did they go up over four percent between
twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three, but they went
up for a second.
Speaker 3 (09:32):
Year in a row.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
That's where you know the issue is, that's the concerning issue.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
And as Rick said specifically right now.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
In the Greater Washington area well over Courter, twenty eight
percent of all traffic deaths in Greater Washington involved drum drivers,
meaning that they're one hundred percent prevent them.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Well, I want to ask you both about education and Kerr.
Let's start with you, and it's something that Rick had
brought up and Kurr, You've also been nice enough to
get a previous guest on this program and talk to
officers that sometimes are either in charge of a whole
group of people that are out there doing DUI checkpoints
in the DMV, or you know they're actually out there
or they've done it at one time or another. And
(10:14):
Rick talked about medications and that comes for whether it's
a legal or legal drugs, and I think there's got
to be an education for people that a lot of
people know not to drink and drive, even though some
choose to still do that. But I imagine there's a
lot of people that are medicated, whether it's legal or illegal,
thinking it's okay to get behind the wheel. And imagine
when it comes to education that's still new to a
(10:36):
lot of people that you're not supposed to do that
and get behind the wheel when you do things like that.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (10:41):
That's one of the reasons that we both have utilized
materials produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with
the tagline that if you feel different, you drive different.
And that's usually relegated to prescription drugs, but not just
prescription drugs. We could be talking about any even legal substances,
especially when you have recreational marijuana use in DC, Maryland
(11:02):
or Virginia. And unfortunately, when you have that, what's the
usually follow is crash rates usually go up when states
legalized recreational use.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
And retail sales in marijuana.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
So it's a constant environment to educate people that it's
not just you know, alcohol that can be the impairing substance.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
It could be alcohol in or drugs. And I would
underline the and there for.
Speaker 4 (11:22):
The fact that we're really talking about more cases than
not poly users that we're seeing both alcohol and drugs,
and the drugs might surprise you. In the district as
recently as the last couple of years, the amount of
persons we just said twenty eight percent of all fatals
in the in the Greater Washington area involve alcohol, but
that's pretty close about I think it was about twenty
(11:42):
percent fifteen to twenty percent that involved PCP.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
In the district. And so yeah, so there's just a
constant challenge.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
One of the ways that challenge has met though, is
law enforcement stepping up their efforts to identify and apprehend
impair drivers.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
And one of the things that's being done.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
That's really a pioneering effort in Montgomery County where they're
doing green labs. You know, wet labs are usually when
law enforcement get persons dosed with alcohol and they can
have police cadets or new trainees do state and field
sobriety tests. You're doing the same thing in Montgomery County
with persons that otherwise than just cannabis and to look
for signs of impairment there. They've even gone so far
(12:22):
as to have and I love this is to have
a persons that have ingested cannabis to operate on a
go kart track with drones flying overhead and with.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Detours.
Speaker 4 (12:35):
They'll go around the track once, but then they'll be
asked to go a different way.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
How quickly they can respond to that as a really
telling sign.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Well, that's fascinating, and Rick, I think we should continue
this part of the conversation because it's going it's still
new to a lot of people. And when I talked
about education, this is also the police officers that have
to be educated too. Now I imagine there's been a
lot of comps out there that have been at a
DUI checkpoint and can immediately look in somebody's eyes or
they could smell alcohol. But drugs, whether it's medication, it's
(13:05):
legal or illegal, is a whole different thing, including the
testing of it. So I know we're still in the
infantile stages of recognizing that. But the education of the
police force out there this is paramount because it's out
there everywhere. I mean, there's so many states that have
legalized it, and whether it is legal or not, people
are doing it. So the education in the officers has
just got to be a big deal. Like Kurta talked about.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, absolutely, you know, we like to say that regardless
of the legalities, right, what we care about is getting
the message out that again, it's about personal choice and
about making sure you have a plan. If you feel different,
then you need to have a plan on hiring at
home safely, no matter what's impairing you. And so we
work very closely with MPD and our federal partners to
(13:47):
make sure that they have the training and resources to
make those kind of detections. Just as you described, Dennis.
One of the ways that we're doing that is by
performing trainings around what's called a ride Advanced roadside Impairment
driving enforcement. This is a pro through the National Habit
Traffic Safety Administration where we specifically train officers on how
to spot impairing substances that are drug based. Cannabis, PCP,
(14:10):
pract cocaine are all leading substances that we see up
and down the Eastern c Board. DC is certainly not
immune to any of those, and so we want to
make sure our officers know what those warning signs are.
And as Kurt said, it's usually an ant right there, right,
you know, it's usually alcohol and another substance. Folks are
in social situations. They don't have malicious intent. They consume alcohol,
(14:32):
they consume and impair and another impairing substance. And it's not
an A plus B equals C. It's not a one
plus one equals too. It's more like eight of the
fifth times B to the sixth right, because there are
so many nuances and how the body metabolizes those substances.
How you consume cannabis, for example, if you consume it
via a smoke form, if you consume it as an edible,
(14:53):
if you use it as a dad, all of those
are going to metabolize differently in the system. And the
H the TC, the active in it is going to
be metabolized differently. So I don't want to give our
listeners a biology lesson today, but I do want to
get this point across that Again, it's not so much
just what you're consuming, it's how you're consuming it, when
you're consuming it, and making sure you leave that distance
(15:14):
in order to be able to drive safely. And that's
why we should always have a plan on how to
get home when we choose to consume those substances.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
No, I'm glad you did, Rick, and Rick if I
could continue something else. When it comes to drinking and
driving or medicated this is like a scared straight episode
all of a sudden that I'm about to ask you.
But there are severe penalties for drinking and driving or
being under the influence, and that includes drugs. Are they
different though? Is there a difference between alcohol and medication,
whether legal or not. And I'd like you to maybe
(15:45):
talk about some of the things that people are up
against if it would happened to them.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Yeah. Absolutely. We're proud to support the Office of the
Attorney General here in DC who prosecutes those cases. Our
office specifically funds five DUI prosecutors who every year manage
a caseloaded over two thousand DUI cases in DC. It's
a scary reality of of what are our court systems seeing,
(16:10):
and they are severe penalties. It will cost you upwards
of ten thousand dollars and fees, lawyer costs. All of
those elements. Think about the fact that we take back
your privilege, as I keep saying, it's a privilege to drive,
So we take that back because you obviously cannot safely
operate a vehicle, So we take back that program. And
we also require what's called an adision interlock device moving forward.
(16:32):
So this is a life saving, proven countermeasure. It's the
device that can be placed in the vehicle where you
are then required to blow into that device every time
before you start your vehicle to document improve your sobriety.
And again we don't do have to be punitive, but again,
you've chosen and made the selfish choice to be an
impaired driver, and this is one way that we can
make sure that history does not repeat itself. Those also
(16:54):
come with stiff expenses and costs. So again, when you
weigh piculately with a program like sober Ride, where it
is a fifteen dollars credit to get home safely. You
weigh that two dollars and fifty cent metro fare versus
the ten thousand dollars plus you're going to spend an
I pair driving fees related to a DUI. Whether you
(17:15):
are a drugs driving alcohol im pair driving prescription drug,
the laws is no difference. So you are putting others
in yourself at risk and that is a serious crime.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
All right, well, thank you for that, Rick, and yeah, Kirk, Dennis.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
I should not go. I should not go.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
That Rich perfectly captured the interlock program, but it's the
same program that's utilized in the neighboring states as well.
The majority of US state didn't have that, and certainly
the district Maryland or Virginia have all of that.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
So whether it's your first or your thirty first.
Speaker 4 (17:44):
DUI, if you get convicted of a DUI, and the
Districtive Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, it's not up to a judge's
description or a possible penalty. You are going to be
mandated to have these in car breatalyzers installed on your
vehicle that will prevent you or anybody from operating your vehicle.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
If the sensor senys that the driver's been drinking.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
And that's also a good segue because it was mentioned Kurt.
Let's talk about sober ride in how people can use
that not only for Saint Patrick's Day, folks, but for
any holiday or if you're out and about why don't
you kind of from soup to nuts, Kirt tell everybody
how it works.
Speaker 4 (18:18):
Well, First of all, I should say that we're doing
something unique this year with the program. We're in the
middle of the Saint patrich Day weekend, but we're offering
this not just on Saint Patrick's Day, which is Monday,
March seventeenth. We've been offering it on from Saturday to Monday,
So Saturday, March fifteenth through Sunday, excuse me, Saturday March
fifteenth through Monday, March seventeenth, which is actually Saint Patrick Day,
(18:38):
each night from four pm to four am. If anybody's
a legal drinking age in the DC area again, which
is Montgomery County and Prince George County, the District of Columbia, Arlington, Fairfax, Labder, Prince.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
William, all they need to do is to go to
sober ride dot com. It's s O B E. R.
Rid dot com.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
They'll see a code that they can put into their
lift app lyft that's our rive share provider. They put
it under the payment tab and they can be afforded
a safe in a sober way home. As Rick mentioned it,
it's a fifteen dollars credit, but quite frankly, the average
sober riet is less than fifteen dollars, So really we'll
take the majority of people home. But let's say you're
ride is twenty, we're still paying for the first fifteen.
(19:17):
You're simply going to be on the hook for five.
We had over five hundred people and utilize this program
last Saint Potters Day, meaning that they did the right
thing to avail themselves to this local life saving offering
rather than driving home and pair. I think over a
three day period we're hoping for a lot larger ridership,
but again, the program is only as good as a
number of people that use it.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Agreed, Agreed, Rick. I wanted to talk about the police officers,
and I don't know how much interaction you have, but
when you do get feedback and you do talk about
experiences and how to get better, what are you hearing
from some of the officers that are actually boots on
the ground out there when it comes to these checkpoints.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Yeah, I'm really fortunate to have a lot of direct
contacts with the incredible women of law enforcement, no matter
where they are, right from Prince George's County to hear
in the district and Alexander, just incredible people who truly
do have a heart for servant leadership and giving back
to our community. The thing that always hunts me is,
you know, I oftentimes ask our officers how they're doing.
You know, what's the toughest part of their job? Every
(20:13):
time Dennis an officer has told me the worst part
of their job is arriving on the scene of a crash,
seeing that it is turned fatal and then having to
make that subsequent notification to a partner, a mom, a dad,
a loved one who is now robbed of of that
loved one because of something that we know is totally preventable.
And so, you know, we oftentimes talk about the incredible
(20:36):
work of many of our partners who work with the
victims of impair driving, but we forget how just horrifying
and scarring these crashes are for our law enforcement as well,
and the residual effect that they feel each time they
see this happen again and again and again because of
something that we've been talking about for four decades that
we have the cure for, and yet it continues on.
(20:56):
So we try to support our officers in the right
aways and only with training, but also equipment by trying
new and innovative tactics. One of the things that's happening
right now in the District of Columbia, we're doing a
pilot called safety Corridors. We have something in the district
called our High our high injury network HI in This
is five percent of our roadways that accounts for fifty
percent of our serious crashes, injuries and fatalities. And so
(21:19):
what we've done is we've picked two segments of this
high injury network to do dedicated enforcement. Two or the
most dangerous segments are on New York Avenue and on
South Capitol Avenue. And if you've driven, Dennis, I know,
I know you've driven those roads before you noticed how
dangerous they can be because of drivers choices and the
litany of challenges that we face. And so drivers will
(21:40):
see increased signage, they will see increased MPD enforcement. We've
done a number of media campaigns and outreach to let
people know that we are cracking down on risky driving,
whether it be in pair driving, not wearing re seat belts, speeding,
or using the phone. We're like, we're all so addicted
to our our tech. That's one thing that we're doing.
We're also doing and continuing Chiefsmiths weekly traffic safety checkpoints.
(22:04):
I'd plot MPD at these checkpoints. I believe they've given
out over sixty car seats over the course of the
last year. I think that's the number, but dozens of
dozens of car seats. We're proud to continue working with
them to make over three thousand free car seats available
to district residents so that this can be another life
saving tool, as well as giving out bicycle homets at
(22:26):
every MPD precinct and as well as our motorcycle homets
as well. So MPD is really trying to be an
engaged part of the community. They're trying to be part
of the solution because we know how hard this is
on our officers and certainly how hard it is in
our community, especially when it's totally preventable.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
All right, well, thank you for that, Rick kurt I
know that, you know, we're not in a contest with
everybody else around the country. But when you get to
talk to your contemporaries out there and your peers and
I know that you get board of directors and you
have events and you're planning for the next beex thing. Kurt,
how are we doing against the rest of the country.
Are we the road? Are we at at high average
in the DMV? Are we lower? Where are we at
(23:03):
with everything when it comes to the United States?
Speaker 3 (23:05):
That's a great question.
Speaker 4 (23:07):
There are some good news there, which is that historically
we've been below the national average in a good way
in terms of the percentage of all traffic deaths that
involve drum drivers. In other words, as we said earlier
that it's twenty eight percent of all traffic deaths at
least in the Greater Washing Area that involved drum drivers.
That figures in the thirties at the national level. So
that's a good thing, and it's probably because of what
(23:27):
Rick said that there's a high knowledge level about the
issue with there's a good public transportation infrastructure. You've got
both cabs, you've got brind share, you've got pedestrian ability
to travel, a high degree of mobility. But the fact
of the matter is when we've got, you know, our
second year in a row, these one hundred percent preventable
fatalities going back upwards, it's certainly a red flag that
(23:49):
we need to do more.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
And I underscore what Rick said about the law enforcement partners.
You know, as good as.
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Any of our sober ride and prevention and education efforts
might be, it's the men and women in uniform that
service the front lines in this effort. It's one of
the reasons that we the Washington Redral Alcohol Program team
up with the DC Highway Safety, Elvis and our other
public partners to recognize law enforcement and something that we've
done for twenty seven years with our law Enforcement Awards
that we do each December, and this past December, we
(24:15):
recognize seventeen different law enforcement officers for again serving us
these front lawns.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Understanding, well, that's just great news. Well, Rick, I want
to do this. I do want to get some final thoughts.
We've got it buy maybe five six minutes left. But
I know that you're always looking towards the future too.
You talked about a new program that is coming up.
As you look down the road. The next couple of years,
not only for technology, but getting better what you do
with you and your team, and of course with the
great officers that are on the streets. What are you
(24:41):
looking forward to or what are you working on that
you can share with us.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Yeah, one thing that it's immediate is that summer will
be here before we know it. Right. I know that
we're still we're still recovering emotionally from winter, but now
we're thinking about summer and all the wonderful things that
happened across the DMV throughout the summer months. We're working
on a new Safe Summer campaign to really drive home
the fact that here in DC and across the DMB,
(25:06):
summer has been one of our deadliest seasons. We typically
see between the period of Memorial Day and Labor Day
an increase in the number of roadway fatalities. In fact,
it's come to be known as the one hundred Deadliest
Days because our summer months do tend to be so dangerous.
So we're trying to ramp up our education and communication efforts,
working with law enforcement on what we can do to
(25:26):
make this a safe summer season. I think you're right
that longer term, technology has lots of promise. You know,
I hope our listeners will if if they have an
Android or an Apple device, will take the time to
activate that safe driving mode. That's one way to reduce
the temptation to be distracted behind the wheel. And then
you know, they'll leverage the resources that are out there
(25:47):
from great partners like wrap responsibility dot org, who has
their virtual bar, all things that we can use to
make sure that we're taking accountability for our actions, how
we move, and then working together to help everyone get
home safely.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
And I imagine Rick and this deserves its own interview
in conversation, but with AI and algorithms and not only
the statistics say you currently have and then once again,
boots on the ground out there, I imagine once again
that's going to get things safer as we work with
technology the best way possible with you and your team.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, Dennis, that's a cannon worms right there, my friend.
You know, I'm optimistic, certainly optimistic about the future and
how we look at how stages of autonomy I think
will benefit. But we also know that the age of
the vehicle fleet is getting older, and older people are
hanging on to their cars longer. And longer, and so
I think it's going to be a long time before
the fleet all the cars on the road as we
(26:38):
call it, really do flip over to where we see
the life saving benefits that many of those devices have
to offer. But now a lot of drivers safety assistant
technology that's out there that folks can take advantage of.
They can visit IIHS dot org, the Insurance Institutes for
Auto on Highway Safety, some great recommendations how to pick
a safe vehicle for you or your team driver.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
All right, well, Kurt, we've got about maybe two minutes left,
so maybe some final thoughts from you, sir.
Speaker 4 (27:03):
Well, first of all, let me tell you that anything
that we talked about in terms of the WRAP umbrella
resource by the DC OBVIOUSLYFDO is you can go to
WRAP dot org again it stands for the Washington Regional
Alcohol Program so of WRIP dot org. If you just
want to know about the free safe right service again
that we offer on various holidays, but right now for
Saint Patrick Jay all the way until four am on Tuesday,
(27:25):
March eighteenth, they can go to sober ride dot com
so O B E r RD dot com. That's also
the place where you can get the code again. You
get a code, you put it into your lift app.
The program is good for new and existing lift users,
and we'll give you a safe and a sober way
home all the way again until four am this Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
That's standing and then direct some final thoughts from you.
Got about a minute and a half.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
Pure drivings preventable, Dennis. We've been talking about it for decades.
There's no excuse to put your line for someone else's
life at risk. Mayor Bowser's working hard to make DC
streets and our whole region save. We have a world
class transportation network. Use the Metro, find sober, find a
sober driver, you sober ride over the holidays, and get
home safely. It's it's truly that.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
Simple, little common sense, right, gentlemen.
Speaker 3 (28:12):
Exactly?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Yeah, yes, well listen, I appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Kurt.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
It's always great to see and talk with you and Rick.
Welcome to community, DC. I hope we get a chance
to visit with you again. Thank you for all the
hard work you and your team do. We're very appreciative.
And let's just stay safe out there everybody. And then uh,
I guess Kurt, we're going to talk to you with
the next big holiday coming up? Well, what have we
got coming up? I guess maybe July fourth and Halloween
and then.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Too actually.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Out all right, well good hey, gentlemen, thank you so
much for joining us on Community DC and we really
appreciate the visit today, Happy Patrick Day, Thanks soon.
Speaker 5 (28:49):
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(30:00):
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