May 2, 2023
Southwest Washington – To combat the often-deadly problem of impaired driving, the Washington State Patrol (WSP) is teaming up with local law enforcement agencies throughout Southwest Washington this weekend, cracking down on impaired drivers.
“Impaired driving remains a major public safety threat that still claims thousands of innocent lives on our roadways every year. Every impaired driver removed from our roadways is a potential life saved,” said Captain Jason Linn, southwest region commander with the Washington State Patrol.
In Washington, anyone driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 grams per deciliter or higher is considered legally impaired by alcohol. Also, those who use medications or marijuana can be arrested for impaired driving, if the usage impairs the driver’s ability to operate a motor vehicle safely. In Washington, marijuana impairment is a level of 5 nanograms per milliliter of blood of active THC or marijuana in your system within two hours of driving.
The Mobile Impaired Driving Unit (MIDU) will be strategically deployed to assist in processing suspected impaired drivers that are arrested. It will be staffed to process those that are arrested so state, local, and county agencies can spend more time looking for suspected impaired drivers.
WSP and other local law enforcement agencies will also be looking for dangerous driving behaviors that cause serious injury and fatality collisions such as aggressive driving, speed, unrestrained occupants, along with impaired driving. The extra patrols will be in place from May 5-6, 2023.
###