By Dale Gribow
A few years ago, I was asked to speak to the Coachella Valley Association of Government (CVAG) on how to SHUT DOWN DRUNK DRIVING. A few days earlier I was the only attorney invited to join a Blue Ribbon Committee on DUI’s. I joined members of law enforcement at the Coachella City Hall to speak about a young girl who was jogging and killed by an alleged drunk driver, whose family I was representing for her Wrongful Death.
CVAG is made up of representative of each city and every law enforcement department in the valley. I shared with CVAG, that as a lawyer who has sued Drunk Drivers for injuries and Wrongful Deaths for 40 years, while at the same time defending the rights of those charged with Drunk Driving, I have a unique perspective on the subject.
MY SUGGESTION ON HOW TO SHUT DOWN DRUNK DRIVING, STARTS AND ENDS WITH EDUCATION… AS A COMPLIMENT TO LAW ENFORCEMENT.
- Initially, we need to teach the public the correct criminal charge is not Drunk Driving, but rather (DUI) Driving Under the Influence or (DWI) Driving While Impaired in other states. You don’t have to be drunk. You merely have to be under the influence, and in California that occurs whenever the blood alcohol is .08 or higher…. although law enforcement will arrest with a .07 here in the Coachella Valley. Being under the influence occurs after about three drinks, but it depends on one’s weight, how much you ate, the time lapse between drinking and driving. How much of the food was protein is also a factor. Most people mistakenly think they have to be loaded to be drunk…. that is incorrect.
- The crucial thing to understand is that it is not the number of drinks, but rather the amount of alcohol in each drink. A drink is 12 oz. of beer, 1 oz. of hard alcohol or 4 oz. of wine. Many restaurants pour a 6-9 oz. pour of wine. Thus when you have two 6 oz. drinks with dinner you have really had 3 drinks. Often restaurants and bars pour a 3 oz. pour of hard alcohol. That equals 3 drinks… not one.
I recently had a kid and his mother, in my office. He swore he only had 1 vodka and OJ. I told him his high reading was impossible from one drink. Then I asked if he used a red Costco 16 oz. cup and filled it 2/3 of the way with vodka, and topped it off with OJ…. he said yes. My client, and the public, must understand that using a 16 oz. cup meant he was consuming about 12 oz. of alcohol …and that is the same as 12 drinks. In addition, people always forget when the bartender tops off their drink, when they are half way through it.
- Alcohol and prescriptive drugs do not mix. When your RX bottle, says on the label, that you should not operate heavy machinery/equipment they mean cars…not tractors. We should probably revise the law to mandate a pharmacy explains, on the prescriptive vial, that you should not operate a car/vehicle after drinking and/or taking a pill with that warning. Many people think that heavy machinery/equipment is a just a tractor.
We must teach the public there is something called Potentiation. This occurs when the RX pill, such as anti-depressants and diet pills, bearing this warning, are combined with an alcoholic drink. The result is that someone is more under the influence than they would be without the pill. Thus, the driver becomes a LOT more under the influence because of this combination of alcohol and a drug.
One drink with a RX drug, could causes the driver to be as much under the influence as having consumed several drinks. The same is even more true with illegal drugs like MJ or Cocaine. MJ today is often 13 times stronger than it was in the 60’s and 70’s, but the public does not realize this.
- With repeat DUI offenders, as a condition of the standard 5 years of probation, I would require the driver have to attend refresher DUI classes every year, until the probation is over. This is on top of the regular DUI classes currently mandated by the courts and DMV.
The Blue Ribbon Committee worked in collaboration with CVAG, and MADD, TO SHUT DOWN DRUNK DRIVING and make a difference! I am proud to be an integral part of that committee. In addition, I was selected as the only lawyer, by the Clinton Foundation Committee on Drunk Driving.
Don’t Drink and Drive!
If you have any questions regarding this column or ideas for future columns, please contact Dale Gribow, Attorney at Law at 760- 837- 7500 or dale@dalegribowlaw.com.
DALE GRIBOW – REPRESENTING THE INJURED AND CRIMINALLY ACCUSED
“TOP LAWYER” – California’s Prestige Magazine, Palm Springs Life (PI/DUI) 2011-23
“TOP LAWYER” – Inland Empire Magazine
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“DON’T DRINK AND DRIVE OR TEXT AND GET A DUI OR ACCIDENT. CALL A TAXI, LYFT OR UBER. THEY ARE A LOT CHEAPER THAN CALLING ME”.
SO DRIVE SOBER, OR GET PULLED OVER.
