TEXAS \u2014 As Texans hit the road this summer, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is reminding drivers that impairment isn\u2019t limited to alcohol.<\/p>\n
The agency has launched its new \u201cDrive Sober. No Regrets.\u201d campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and other drugs.<\/p>\n
For Sue Beatty, the message is deeply personal. Her 19-year-old daughter, Carly Beatty, was killed by an impaired driver in 2019. Beatty said the driver who struck her daughter had alcohol, THC, cocaine and Xanax in his system.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery impaired driving crash starts with a choice,\u201d Beatty said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t understand the risk they\u2019re taking that could end someone\u2019s life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Beatty said the conversation has shifted beyond drunk driving.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has gone from drunk driving to impaired driving because there are so many substances that impair your driving,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
According to TxDOT, more than 1,200 people were killed in impaired driving crashes on Texas roads last year.<\/p>\n
As part of the campaign, law enforcement officers have continued training to recognize drivers impaired by drugs, including THC. Tony De La Cerda, a drug recognition expert with the Texas Department of Public Safety, said officers look for several signs during a traffic stop.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re looking for things like the smell of burnt marijuana, we\u2019re looking at their pupils, whether they look dilated, and we\u2019re looking at the way they speak to us,\u201d De La Cerda said.<\/p>\n
He said THC can slow reaction time, impair judgment and affect a person\u2019s ability to drive safely, even if they do not appear intoxicated.<\/p>\n
With summer travel increasing, officials say the safest choice is simple: if you\u2019re impaired by any substance, don\u2019t get behind the wheel.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarly\u2019s death has changed my life forever,\u201d Beatty said. \u201cThere are no words to explain what it is to lose a child. That\u2019s why I speak out about this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TEXAS \u2014 As Texans hit the road this summer, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is reminding drivers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1061,132,134,133,1570,102,138,223,1571,1225,82,27,1569,835],"class_list":["post-365577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-app-public-safety","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-ctv","tag-dallas","tag-el-paso","tag-news","tag-nicolette-perdomo","tag-public-safety","tag-san-antonio","tag-texas","tag-texas-what-you-need-to-know","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}