DRUNKEN DRIVING FATALITIES DECLINING

Paul E. Krigbaum, the co-owner a Cape Girardeau bakery, lost his life July 31, 1993, when a pickup truck driven by a Poplar Bluff man forced Krigbaum's car from the northbound lane of Interstate 55, through the median, into the southbound lanes, where it struck a tractor-trailer truck head-on.

Both vehicles again crossed the median and overturned in a flood-filled ravine just north of the Diversion Channel. Krigbaum was 46.

Stephen R. Pouge, 23, driver of the pickup truck, has been charged with involuntary manslaughter for "recklessly causing the death of" Krigbaum. He is accused of having a blood-alcohol level in excess of .03 percent, of operating a motor vehicle at speeds excessive for road conditions and of failure to properly use traffic lanes.

Alcohol-impaired driving accounts for one death on U.S. highways about every half hour, adding up to about 17,700 lives lost last year alone -- about 49 deaths per day, eight of which are under age 21.

In addition, about 1.4 million people are injured every year in alcohol-related crashes.

Numbers such as these are part of the reason Gov. Mel Carnahan has proclaimed December "Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Month" in Missouri.

Last year, 241 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes in Missouri. Of that number, 31 were under age 21. Statewide, alcohol-related crashes account for 26 percent of all fatal crashes, according to the Missouri Department of Public Safety's Division of Highway Safety.

"On the national level, the number of alcohol-related fatalities has been dropping steadily over the past five years," said Kris Farris, a spokesman for the Division of Highway Safety. "We like to see numbers like that in my line of work."

In Cape Girardeau, the number of DWI arrests is slightly higher than it was at this point last year, but police say arrest numbers are not an accurate gauge of the actual number of people driving under the influence.

"The number of people actually driving drunk is better gauged by the number of alcohol-related accidents," said Sgt. Carl Kinnison of the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

"If you have more DWI arrests and more alcohol-related accidents in a year, then you have a negative correlation -- meaning your number of drunk drivers is increasing," he said. "But if both DWI and accident numbers go down, then there's a good chance there are fewer people driving drunk."

Since February 1988, the Cape Girardeau Police Department has had a special force on patrol Friday and Saturday nights looking for people who have overindulged. And they find intoxicated drivers with success.

The state grant which funds the overtime pay for the officers who work the patrols has recently been renewed for another year, Kinnison said.

In recognition of 3D Month in Missouri, Cape Girardeau and other law enforcement departments across the state will increase DWI patrols on Dec. 22.

"Some agencies will have check points throughout the day, others will patrol more heavily and some will have educational programming about DWIs," said Kinnison. "Our DWI unit will be active that day.

"The day is designed to focus attention on the DWI problem," Kinnison continued. "Law enforcement agencies all over the state are doing what they can to combat the problem."

But for some, Missouri's DWI-reduction effort is not enough. Recently, the national Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) gave Missouri a "D-plus" rating, mainly because of its failure to pass legislation which would reduce the legal limit of intoxication from .10 to .08 percent.

"It's not the effort this state put forward; it's the legislation," said Sharee Galnore, coordinator of the local MADD community action team. "Missouri does a lot to educate people on the dangers of drinking and driving, but sometimes that's not enough."

This past year, 13 states reduced the legal limit of intoxication from a .10 percent blood-alcohol to .08 percent. The Missouri legislature turned down similar legislation in its 1993 session.

The state of Pennsylvania reduced it's legal limit from .10 to .07 percent. Oregon became the first state to have a .04 percent legal limit, with legislation which reduced it from .08 percent.

On Nov. 8, a group calling itself the Missouri Advocates for Traffic Safety -- a collection of people from several different state agencies whose purpose is to work on legislation -- met for the first time.

"They determined their priority issues up front," said Farris. "This year, the group is gunning for a .08 percent blood-alcohol bill and for open-container laws for the state."

Farris said a lot of cities currently have open-container laws, but there is no statewide legislation to that effect.

Kinnison said someone riding in a car currently can drink alcoholic beverages, but the driver cannot.

"As they are written, the DWI laws are anti-consumption laws, forbidding someone to drink (alcohol) or to be intoxicated while they are operating a motor vehicle," Kinnison said.

But current laws also allow a person to be charged with DWI if he or she has a blood-alcohol level below .10 percent but demonstrates an inability to operate a vehicle, Kinnison said.

"If someone is swerving around the road or does poorly on field sobriety tests, they can still be charged with DWI, even if they don't blow a .10," said Kinnison. "DWI includes driving while impaired, as well as intoxicated."

In addition, the state advocacy group is urging passage of a law which would mandate zero tolerance for youths caught drinking and driving.

"If anyone under 21 was driving and had even a trace of alcohol in his or her system -- even .02 percent -- that person would be charged with DWI," said Farris.

Several states, including Florida and Indiana, already have stiff penalties in place for anyone under the age of 21 caught driving under even the slightest influence of alcohol. Penalties include license suspensions for a year, criminal DWI charges and fines up to $1,000.

Even under current Missouri legislation, Farris said, the numbers of DWIs and alcohol-related accidents appear to be declining.

"We think there is a trend here," he said. "Overall, the number of crashes and fatalities are going down. We'd like to think that is the result of less drinking and driving and more people wearing their seat belts."

She added: "Impaired driving crashes can be prevented. Communities can change, just as laws and individual behavior can change. We can change the grim statistics. We can save lives and make prevention work for everyone."