Las Vegas sees DUI cases grow

Jen Lawson and Jace Radke

Thursday, April 17, 2003 | 11:16 a.m.

Las Vegas has a reputation of being an anything-goes town where alcohol flows freely and drunken drivers roam the roads 24 hours a day.

That image was reinforced Tuesday afternoon. Metro Police said 40-year-old Michael Krivak was driving drunk and struck and killed a father who was riding a bicycle to the store with his son.

But local authorities say that for the most part, the image is an illusion: Las Vegas does not have an extraordinarily high number of drunken driving deaths.

"A lot of people have the misconception that since free alcohol is served in casinos that we would have a higher incidence of DUI, but that's not true," Detective Bill Redfairn of Metro's fatal detail said. "Look at Phoenix. The numbers are real close."

Dallas, Kansas City, Mo., Detroit, New Orleans, Phoenix and Albuquerque are among the cities with higher DUI death rates, according to the National Highway Safety Administration.

Although other cities have higher DUI fatality rates, Las Vegas' number has grown in each of the past several years.

Last year, 38 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes. Twenty-six people were killed in 2001; 18 in 2000; 13 in 1999 and 15 in 1998, according to Metro.

Sandy Heverly, head of Stop DUI, an activist group against drunk driving, said that there are many factors that go into Nevada's growing rate of DUI fatalities.

Weak laws, not enough education and the fact that alcohol is easily within reach are all part of the problem, Heverly said.

"The fact that alcohol is available 24 hours a day doesn't help, but other cities with bars that close at 2 a.m. also have problems with drunk driving," Heverly said. "Alcohol is always available in Las Vegas, and a lot of it is free."

Another misconception is that tourists come to Las Vegas and cause DUI crashes, but authorities said that's not the case.

"It's locals, and a lot of the time it's home drinkers," said Larry Espadero, director of addictive disease at Montevista Hospital, an inpatient and outpatient facility for the treatment of psychiatric illnesses and chemical addictions. "It's a real myth that is perpetrated around town. People think it's the tourists, and it's the availability of liquor at casinos, but it's just not true."

Espadero says that many of the people he treats lose themselves in alcohol, which is a depressant.

"It lowers their inhibitions and makes them think everything is OK," Espadero said. "I've had patients who actually think they drive better when they are drinking."

Heverly believes a bigger concern than the free alcohol and the perception of Las Vegas is the number of happy hours around town.

"You have people drinking as much as they can, as fast as they can in a short time period," Heverly said.

For the last 14 years Heverly has been pushing for the Nevada Legislature to lower the legal blood alcohol rate from .10 to .08. This is the seventh consecutive legislative session that Stop DUI has supported the bill.

If Nevada does not change the limit the state stands to lose $4 million in highway funds in 2004, and about $29 million over the next four years. The Nevada Resort Association and restaurant and tavern associations have successfully lobbied against the change in the past.

Thirty-five states, as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico already have a limit of .08. Around the world, countries such as Japan (0), Sweden (.02) and Australia (.05) have lower levels, and many countries use .08, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"The lower blood alcohol level is not a magical cure, but we know that it will help," Heverly said. "Illinois saw a 13.7 percent reduction in the number of DUI fatalities when it went to .08.

"If we went to .08 and it reduced our alcohol-related fatalities by one percent, it would be worth it."

Metro uses sobriety checkpoints to catch DUI drivers and deter others from drinking and driving, Redfairn said.

Officers set up a sobriety checkpoint about once a month and typically nab between 10 and 15 impaired drivers each time, Redfairn said. The checkpoints are funded by federal grant money and are sometimes held jointly with the Nevada Highway Patrol and Henderson and North Las Vegas police departments.

Trooper Angie Wolff of the Nevada Highway Patrol said troopers fight DUI via "saturation checkpoints" -- putting six or seven troopers in one spot known for crashes. They typically have them around holidays or during special events such as Super Bowl Sunday.

"We'll stop drivers for everything -- following too closely, speeding -- and if we smell alcohol, we'll give them a test," Wolff said.

Heverly, an anti-DUI activist for 20 years, said that there has been an improvement in the state in terms of the percentage of people killed in drunk driving accidents.

"Twenty years ago 67 percent of our fatal accidents were drunk driving, and now it's around 42 percent," Heverly said.