GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The goal of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII) is to reduce the number and severity of DUII fatalities by working with interrelated partners such as prevention, law enforcement, prosecutors, judicial, treatment, and transportation professionals to address the impaired driving problem in a more organized and systematic manner.

The program’s objectives include:  

• Educate the public about the dangers associated with driving under the influence of intoxicants and the effects on life and property;

• Heighten public awareness of the seriousness of impaired driving;
• Generate public support for increased enforcement of state and local impaired-driving laws; and
• Eliminate administrative bottlenecks in the arrest, trial, and sentencing process.

STRATEGIES AND ACTIVITIES

The Governor appointed eleven members representing law enforcement, the Liquor Control Commission, public health, medical, prevention and treatment, prosecutorial and judicial communities to the DUII Advisory Committee. The members and chair are not subject to term limits.

The DUII Advisory Committee conducts the following activities to improve the impaired driving program statewide:

• Meets monthly to plan, develop, and implement statewide activities and strategies to reduce drug-involved traffic fatalities.
• Creates state and community support for law enforcement’s efforts.
• Builds partnerships among local and state organizations.
• Advises the Office of the Governor and the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Transportation Safety Division on various impaired driving program processes.
• Supports the state’s DUII Multi-Disciplinary Task Force training conference.
• Develops gubernatorial legislative concepts to deter impaired driving, reduce impaired-related serious injuries and fatalities on Oregon roadways.

The Advisory Committee was involved in passing the following legislation:

• Initiated the Drug Recognition Expert (DRE) program for law enforcement beginning in 1995 with standardized training directed by Oregon State Police.
• Enacted felony DUII legislation, requiring three or more convictions within 10 years.
• Expanded the DUII definition to include inhalants.
• Passed legislation in 2001 requiring permanent driver license revocation for fourth time DUII convictions, suspension of an individual’s driver’s permit if previously charged with minor in possession and subsequently failed to appear in court.
• Extended the Open Container Law to include public transit vehicles.
• Required first-time DUII offenders to plead guilty or no contest to DUII charge before entering any diversion program in 2003.
• Authorized school district boards to request Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) to suspend driving privileges of students 15 years or older who have been suspended or expelled at least twice for possessing, using, delivering, or being under the influence of a controlled substance on school property or at a school event.
• Increased penalties for transporting children while under the influence.
• Elevated criminally negligent homicide and manslaughter in the second degree from Class C to Class B felony.
• Created a refusal to take a breath test traffic offense, punishable by a fine of at least $500 to a maximum of $1,000.

RESULTS

The Governor’s Advisory Committee on Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants (DUII) achieved the following results by 2003:

• Trained over 300 DREs to evaluate drivers suspected of being under the influence of drugs other than alcohol
• Increased drug-impaired driving arrests from 428 in 1995 to over 1400 in 2003
• Decreased nighttime fatal and injury crashes by 12.6 percent from and cases involving a combination of alcohol and other drugs by 48.4 percent from 1998 to 2002