A suspected drunk driver slammed into the rear of a Chula Vista police officer’s vehicle at about 12:40 a.m. on Sunday, Jan. 26.
The accident occurred on Telegraph Canyon Road, in the vicinity of Paseo Ranchero. The driver of a Scion TC rear-ended the police vehicle, continued travelling down the road, and then struck a Honda CRV stopped and waiting in a left turn lane.
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The officer, the driver of Scion and the two occupants in the Honda were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Police arrested the driver of Scion for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Surprisingly, suspected drunk drivers hitting police cruisers aren’t unusual occurrences. In the past week, two Wisconsin police vehicles sustained damaged after being hit by suspected drunk drivers. In the first incident, the officer was rear-ended during a traffic stop, and the second, the officer was hit by an oncoming vehicle driven by a drunk driver. In these crashes no one was injured, however.
Law enforcement arrests about 1.5 million people a year for driving under the influence of either alcohol or drugs, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The legal limit for blood alcohol in California is .08 percent. Alcohol impacts a driver’s ability to drive in many ways. According to the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, it can cause:
- Drowsiness.
- Impaired vision.
- Reduced reaction times.
- Reduced concentration and vigilance.
- Feeling too relaxed, allowing drivers to fall asleep at the wheel
- Difficulty processing sensory information.
- Difficulty doing multiple tasks such as staying in your lane and avoiding obstacles.
- Over-confidence.