New tool may help in DWI fight

-- the aftermath of a d- w-i crash that leaves one person dead -- or in the worst cases -- kills ...  More »

-- the aftermath of a d- w-i crash that leaves one person dead -- or in the worst cases -- kills an entire family. but what if there was a way to prevent those crashes ... or even a way to reduce the likelihood of an alcohol involved crash. only on 4 tonight we look into a new tool designed to do just that. it's the kind of video that makes you cringe ... a driver under the influence speeds through city streets, then slams into an innocent driver. what if we could rewind that crash ... what if that crash could have been avoided. 19:58 "i'm hoping that this is a tool that law enforcement can say this is the neatest thing since sliced bread.-7" sliced bread was a time saver ... but the operational deployment resource allocator could be a life saver. 13:33 "they could end up doing some traffic enforcement that ends up saving lives.-3" linda atkinson with the d-w-i resource center shows us how the new tool works. it's a website based on 6 years of alcohol involved crash data ... and is only available to law enforcement. police can plug in their county, enter the date and select a time, and get the top 20 intersections with the highest probability of a d-w-i crash -- it even takes into account holiday weekends. in the past month, about 12 new mexico agencies have started to use the program. 11:39 "how do you really be the most effective traffic enforcement officer, you go to places where the high incidents of crashes are occuring, in that sense you're saving lives.-10" we plugged in the data to find out the worst intersection right now -- as you are hearing this story. between 10pm and 11pm tonight ... the intersection with the highest risk factor for an alcohol involved crash is san mateo and pan american east. second on the list is zuni and san pablo southeast. the third riskiest intersection right now is osuna and jefferson northeast. the website was created to help cops pinpoint where to increase patrols, or even set up checkpoints. 14:00 "it's a matter of law enforcement making those decisions strategically.-4" if the d-w-i resource center gets additional funding from the department of justice ... the website could be available to the public within a year. we also looked up the worst intersections over the labor day weekend... you can checthem out at k-o-b--dot--com.  « Less