Drunk driving on the rise in village of Cambridge

Drunk driving on the rise in village of Cambridge
By JESSICA YORK Staff Writer http://www.benningtonbanner.com
VILLAGE of CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. -- Cambridge police are alarmed by an increase in the number of people arrested for driving while drunk in the village.
By the end of July, the Cambridge-Greenwich Police Department made 25 arrests for driving while intoxicated in 2005 - only four fewer DWI arrests than in all of 2004, said Chief George G. Bell.
"I know we're going to surpass what we did last year," Bell said. "We've got four left, and it's only Aug. 1. This is way above last year."
According to Bell, there have not been more police patrols in the villages, so the increase is more likely to reflect a higher incidence of drinking and driving, not just an increase in the number of arrests.
"I think if you look at Washington County as a whole, that is a lot of drunks," Bell said Tuesday. "I don't know if that's good, bad, or indifferent."
Greenwich has also seen a large number of DWI arrests this year: 29. Bell did not have figures on last year's Greenwich arrests for comparison. Both Cambridge and Greenwich Village are about a square mile each and "with basically one bar for each village, that's a lot of drunks," Bell told the a Cambridge Village Board of Trustees at a meeting Monday.
The board did not discuss the issue nor offer any comment when it was brought before them.
"That's 59 people that we took off the road that were drunk," said Bell. "That's 59 that we got to before they actually hurt or killed someone. I think the public needs to know. Is that bad news or good news? I don't know."
Not only have there been more arrests, but the drinking has been heavier, according to police. Bell said his patrolmen have been pulling over plenty of drivers with blood alcohol levels ranging from .18 to .24. The New York State blood alcohol limit for drivers is .08.
"These are heavy duty drinkers," said Bell.
According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, 35 percent of New York's 1,491 traffic fatalities in 2003 were alcohol related. For the period 2001 to 2003, there was a 1 percent annual increase in fatalities involving crashes with a driver having above a .15 blood-alcohol level.
Cambridge has also had eight citations for alcohol consumption or possession by underaged drinkers so far this year - 18 citations in total between Cambridge and Greenwich.