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ICJI > Governor's Council on Impaired & Dangerous Driving > Impaired Driving Prevention Impaired Driving Prevention

Winning Your DUI Case Presentations

As the State Authorizing Agency (SAA), the Traffic Safety Division of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute is responsible for the development and implementation of programming to reduce the incidents of drunk and impaired driving and the reduction of alcohol and drug impaired driving related crashes, injuries, and fatalities. The Division is also responsible for increasing the reporting of alcohol and drug impaired driving, increasing chemical testing of driver involved in crashes, and the training of Law Enforcement in Standardized Field Sobriety Tests and the Drug Evaluation and Classification Programs.

The Governor’s Task Force to Reduce Drunk Driving Advisory Board was formed in 1984 to combat impaired driving when the 1980’s brought about social change in the way impaired driving was viewed. The Task Force was instrumental in passing strong legislation and supporting education and enforcement programs to reduce impaired driving crashes. The Governor’s Council on Impaired & Dangerous Driving continues to this day to strengthen legislative and public policy changes that reduce impaired driving fatalities and crashes.

A significant factor that assisted Indiana in stepping up its impaired driving program was the passing of the .08 BAC Law that became effective July 1, 2001. Media played a very active role in educating the public with news articles and editorials continuously. Prior to the law becoming effective, plans were put in place to expand the funding for the nine existing multi-jurisdictional impaired driving taskforces. The program grew to 25 counties on October 1, 2001.

DUI Indiana Taskforces are provided overtime funding to detect and arrest impaired drivers. This is one of the most significant and visible means for the public to know that Indiana is serious about arresting impaired drivers. The “Operation Pull - Over Program” (OPO) also contributes to the education and enforcement efforts statewide.

In October 1994, the Governor’s Council implemented OPO to combine all public education, enforcement and legislative efforts into one cohesive statewide traffic enforcement effort. The goals of OPO are to increase seat belt usage and decrease alcohol-related fatalities and crashes. Raising the seat belt usage rate will protect all motorists and increase their chances of surviving a crash by nearly 50 percent – including those involved in alcohol-related fatalities.

Since that time, approximately 220+ law enforcement departments have participated annually in the program and have made thousands of impaired driving arrests. The program is implemented quarterly with varied target audiences with an overall message geared to males 21-34. Other target groups include underage drinking, families and children.

For law enforcement departments to be eligible for any type of funding from the Council, they must be a participant in the OPO program. Both enforcement programs provide overtime funding for traffic patrol, saturation patrols, sobriety checkpoints, as well as traffic enforcement equipment.

Checkpoint! Now Appearing on a Street Near You

As of the 2008 Federal Fiscal Year, which started 01 October 2007, The DUI Task Force Indiana, along with the Indiana State Police, represent 130 law enforcement departments in 31 Indiana counties. The participating departments’ jurisdictions represent 77% of all crashes, 66% of all fatalities, 67% of all Alcohol related fatalities, 78% of all alcohol related personal injury crashes, and 80% of Alcohol Related Property Damage crashes. State Police along with Local Law Enforcement provide additional, concentrated DUI Enforcement coverage to over 80% of Indiana’s population.

The State of Indiana has significant programs in place that have assisted Indiana in becoming a leader with proven results in the area of impaired driving:

  • Peer-to-peer assistance is provided to law enforcement departments statewide through seven regional law enforcement liaisons;
  • Participation in the “Over the Limit, Under Arrest”… national mobilizations
  • A paid media campaign supporting increased enforcement;
  • quarterly meetings with the DUI Taskforce law enforcement departments to include peer-to-peer report out of enforcement results, problem solving, program highlights, legal updates and training;
  • A full-time statewide coordinator overseeing the Standardized Field Sobriety Training (SFST) and Drug Recognition Evaluation Training (DRE) programs;
  • Continuing education/training is provided to law enforcement, judges and prosecutors;
  • Funding to conduct underage compliance checks for purchasing alcohol and conducting training programs through the Indiana Excise Police
  • An evaluation of Indiana’s 51 Drug and Alcohol Courts is taking place and should be completed in mid 2007.
  • Provide impaired driving traffic enforcement equipment to law enforcement;
  • Improvement of the state level traffic records program through various grant opportunities such as the Federal Motor Carrier Assistance Program and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration – project level work is being completed by the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in partnership with the Indiana Supreme Court and the State Traffic Records Steering Committee.

All of these factors have led Indiana to becoming consistently in the Top Ten nationwide of States with the lowest number of alcohol related fatal crashes. Indiana will continue to strive to be among the nation’s leaders in reducing impaired Driving crashes, injuries, and deaths.