Sgt. Steve Simpson said an unknown cyclist was killed in a car accident and the authorities suspect the driver of the vehicle was under the effects of alcohol. Simpson reported that Portland’s Crash Team received the emergency call earlier today at 4:02 P.M.

The incident took place in the 6300 block of S.W. Multnomah Blvd where the officers found the body. In the scene, they also found the driver who waited for the authorities after the accident. So far, no criminal charges have been issued yet, but police officers suspect impairment played a significant role in the crash.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) reports on DUI incidents are alarming.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) reports on DUI incidents are alarming. According to them, 9,967 people were killed in alcohol-impaired crashes which make up 31% of all traffic-related deaths in all the United States. Image Credit: Bike Portland

“It appears that both the bicyclist and vehicle were headed eastbound on S.W. Multnomah when the crash occurred. The driver remained at the scene. Investigators believe that impairment may be a factor in this crash and are continuing the investigation,” reads the report posted by Sgt. Steve Simpson at the Portland Police Bureau’s official news website.

Road Killer

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) reports on DUI incidents are alarming. According to them, 9,967 people were killed in alcohol-impaired crashes which make up 31% of all traffic-related deaths in all the United States. But drunk drivers are not always alone in the car; the CDCP also says that in more than 50% of the cases where children died in a car accident, they were aboard a vehicle with an alcohol-drug impaired driver. But what is impairment?

When a person is under the effects of drugs or alcohol, his or her ability behind the wheel is drastically affected. Even though there is a big argument about drugs causing accidents because of the recent legislations that made marijuana legal for medical uses in some states, alcohol is the number one cause of impairment on the highway.

Specialists created a chart that shows the effect of the Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) on a driver. For instance, with only .02% BAC, a person loses the ability to assess situations and track fast moving objects. A couple of beers will get an average adult there, but at that point, it is still legal to drive.

However, with around two more of those, that same person will get his/her BAC to 0.8%, and this is when it get serious. According to law enforcers, Judgment, self-control, reasoning, memory and even your muscle coordination gets significantly affected. Once there, people will also lose the ability to control speed, concentration and will suffer from short-term memory loss which makes anyone driving a 3-ton machine a real threat on the road. No wonder it’s illegal.

However, with around two more of those, that same person will get his/her BAC to 0.8%, and this is when it get serious. According to law enforcers, Judgment, self-control, reasoning, memory and even your muscle coordination gets significantly affected. Once there, people will also lose the ability to control speed, concentration and will suffer from short-term memory loss which makes anyone driving a 3-ton machine a real threat on the road. No wonder it’s illegal.

However, with around two more of those, that same person will get his/her BAC to 0.8%, and this is when it get serious. According to law enforcers, Judgment, self-control, reasoning, memory and even your muscle coordination gets significantly affected. Once there, people will also lose the ability to control speed, concentration and will suffer from short-term memory loss which makes anyone driving a 3-ton machine a real threat on the road. No wonder it’s illegal.

Portland's police officers will cite the driver involved in SE Portland's crash
Portland’s police officers had to witness a terrible scene at S.W. Multnomah Blvd. Image Credit: Oregon Live

The system

Oregon takes its drunk driving laws very seriously. If a driver is arrested for driving under the influence (DUI), he can face fines, license suspension and even jail time. The severity of the punishment is going to depend on a lot of factors, such as how many offenses that person has, whether a child or underage person was aboard at the moment and the BAC level. Fines can go up to $10,000 and in some cases, offenders are put behind bars for a whole year, and that is for a first offense.

The South Portland Police Department takes the matter extra seriously. They have at least three standardized flown sobriety instructors, and they teach every single police officer how to detect impairment through a variety of methods. They also have 3 Intoxilyzer 8000 instructors, two certified law enforcement phlebotomists who are trained to analyze blood samples from DUI cases and a drug recognition expert.

With all this in mind, you might think drunk people think twice before getting behind the steering wheel, and you would be wrong. According to studies, a person that is under the effects of alcohol does not know how drunk he is, and cannot take logical decisions. In other words, under the current traffic laws, there are not much law enforcers can do to reduce the numbers of deaths alcohol causes on the road.

Source: Portland Oregon