Drinking and drugs the top causes of fatal crashes in Springs

Azeleah DeLeon's smile made her the darling of a large and loving family.

The 8-month-old died before her teeth came in.

Sixty-four-year-old Sylvia Hinklin of Cotopaxi was headed home when she was hit head-on by a wrong- way driver on Interstate 25.
The fiery crash killed Hinklin and her dog, Chase, and the other driver, who was drunk.

The three were among 14 people who died from alcohol- or drug-related crashes in Colorado Springs in 2008, a year in which police attributed 64 percent of fatal wrecks to intoxicated drivers - double the nationwide average, according to the most recent figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The grim disparity continues a trend in Colorado Springs: In a city that Men's Health magazine tagged as one of the drunkest in the nation, alcohol or drugs were blamed for 71 percent of the 119 traffic deaths here over the past five years.

Last year, police used state and federal grants to put more officers on the streets during major holidays.

They staged DUI checkpoints and swamped the downtown bar scene and high-traffic corridors with regular "saturation patrols." They mounted educational efforts to attack the culture of drinking and driving.

For too many drivers, though, the message didn't sink in.

"Our officers are doing an outstanding job, but they're overwhelmed by the scope of the problem," said Colorado Springs police detective Craig Simpson, who specializes in investigating the city's fatal crashes.

Last year, 22 people died in crashes in Colorado Springs, the second-lowest total in the past five years. There were 27 deaths in 2007; 13 deaths in 2006; 30 deaths in 2005; and 27 deaths in 2004.

Police said three people who died last year weren't wearing seat belts and seven were. Motorcyclists accounted for nearly half of the deaths, and of the nine who were killed, only two wore helmets. One helmeted rider was killed by an inattentive driver, police said; the other lost control of his motorcycle and hit a curb.

Half of last year's victims of drunken driving were sober.

They included a 14-year-old boy who had sneaked out of his home during a slumber party, two bicyclists riding together on a summer day, and a 54-year-old Peyton woman who was hit in a stopped vehicle while her husband and son were outside attempting to retrieve a mattress in the road. Cases against the drivers in those wrecks are in the courts.

Four years ago, police took a lead role in creating the Pikes Peak Region DUI Task Force, an effort involving law enforcement from El Paso, Teller and Pueblo counties. The group shares resources and determines where and when special traffic enforcement is needed.

In 2008, the group added the so-called BAT Mobile to its arsenal, a van equipped with everything officers need to process drunken drivers as quickly as possible during the special enforcement drives.

"We try to do all the things we can from our side, with education, enforcement, checkpoints and saturation patrols," said police Lt. Steve Tobias. "We just can't get a good handle on stopping people from drinking and driving."

According to Simpson, drunken drivers arrested in Colorado Springs during the past three years averaged a blood-alcohol content of 0.2 percent, or nearly 2½ times the legal limit.

Stiffer laws and harsh penalties have brought down the DUI fatality rate across the country in the past two decades. But the decision not to drink and drive ultimately remains a question of personal responsibility, said Pam VanOverbeke of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

"As soon as somebody consumes alcohol, they start to be impaired," she said. "Every person has got to decide: What am I going to be responsible for?"