Seminar in Lexington to Focus on Impaired Driving

FRANKFORT, Ky. (WTVQ) – Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear is joining with the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety and the Unified Prosecutorial System to offer a three-day training to education prosecutors and law enforcement officials on the detection, apprehension and prosecution of impaired drivers.

The AG’s office will host the annual regional seminar “Protecting Lives, Saving Futures,” Dec. 13-15, at the Hilton at Lexington Green in Lexington.

“My administration is focused on addressing the persistent challenges our families face, and one of those is better addressing Kentucky’s drug epidemic,” Beshear said. “Every time our families, our friends or our children get in a vehicle, they are at risk of being harmed by a driver under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol.”

“Protecting Lives, Saving Futures is an excellent opportunity to improve impaired driver detection and successful prosecution,” said Dr. Noelle Hunter, executive director of the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety. “The shared learning and synergy among prosecutors, law enforcement, toxicologists and other key actors during this training will result in better cooperation to save lives and reduce highway fatalities.”

This training is coordinated through the Attorney General’s Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Program.

The training is funded through the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety with grant funds provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Assistance for this training has been provided by the Kentucky Office of Highway Safety and the Kentucky State Police.

Representatives of the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving plan to attend the training.

“MADD strongly supports the Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Program and commends the Attorney General’s office for implementing this program,” said Rosalind Donald, MADD Kentucky Victim Advocate. “We are grateful to be invited to participate in the training and hope to shed light on the long-lasting effects that drunk driving crashes create for victims and survivors. Drunk driving is a serious crime. Trainings such as these help ensure that the criminal justice system address DUI charges consistently and effectively, which ultimately helps protect society from needless death and injury.”

The training is presented under the direction of the American Prosecutors Research Institute’s National Traffic Law Center.