“Under Florida law, the legal limit in the state of Florida's 0.08, and it does not take very many drinks to get to that point.”
That’s Lieutenant Greg Bueno with the Public Affairs Division of the Florida Highway Patrol‘s Troop F in Southwest Florida.
Bueno’s description of the DUI limit helps explain why the FHP’s Elite DUI Squad and the Aggressive Driving Unit will be conducting “Operation Dry Streets” a specialized impaired driving enforcement initiative, from this Friday through Sunday, throughout 10 counties in Southwest Florida that are Troop F's region.
But there will be a focus area, Bueno said.
"We're going to primarily focus on the areas of Lee, Collier, and Charlotte. But it is fluid and potentially will be expanded out to the other counties in our region as well," he said.
Any public roadway in that area will be a possible watch spot for the FHP, Bueno said, but added a caveat.
"Having said that, you know, we will mostly be focusing on the roads that we see tragedies on, the interstate. Those type of roads where we have high volume," he said. "We've had quite a few arrests occur for the type of behaviors that we're trying to deter and obviously with the ultimate goal of reducing injuries and saving lives."
He stressed that if you are pulled over and found to be driving impaired, there is an arrest in your future:
"Well, if someone is deemed impaired, it's an arrest. It's more than just a ticket. We have to make a decision roadside when we are interacting with an individual. Either that individual is impaired or the individual is not impaired, one or the other."
Bueno said eventually that decision is made, based on the totality of circumstances or interactions with that individual, looking for various cues and indicators that someone is impaired, lacking judgment, not able to perform simple tasks like most people could easily do, and through field sobriety testing and trooper interactions with the driver.
"Beyond that, once that decision is made and that person is deemed impaired, we would place the person under arrest. We would then read that person what's called implied consent for a breath test, something that everybody agrees to do should a police officer ask them to do it," he said. "And in the event that individual refuses, it's an automatic suspension of the driver's license and that individual will still be going to jail based on our probable cause that we've already developed up until that point showing impairment. It's the same concept of click it or ticket. You know, we see [you] without a seatbelt, we're not going to write you a warning, we're going to write you a ticket."
Bueno said it is imperative when people go out to events, restaurants, or elsewhere, to make decisions beforehand on how to act if alcohol is consumed.
“The importance of having that conversation with yourself before you start drinking about how you're going to get home, what options you're going to make," he said. "Because I have yet to meet someone that's drinking to the point of impairment, and then they want to have that conversation with themselves, asking themselves, hey, am I OK to drive? They're nine times out of 10 going to be like, oh, I'm fine.”
Looking for those kinds of situations, Bueno’s FHP trooper colleagues will be trying to identify and remove impaired drivers before they cause a tragedy.
“Big picture is, there's a lot of families out there that are hurting and they're hurting because individuals have made horrible choices, got behind the wheel of something that weighs 4,000-plus pounds, carries gasoline, goes fast (and) through irresponsible decisions, have cost lives, caused property damage and a whole lot of injuries.”
The FHP ultimately asks motorists to keep a few things in mind: Never drive impaired, designate a sober driver, use rideshare services or public transportation, keep your head up and cellphones down, practice, and buckle up every trip, every time.
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