Jessica Sullivan, administrative sergeant for the Sammamish police, said the city is fortunate to have a full-time dedicated DUI officer, and the department will be on the lookout for impaired drivers throughout the holiday party season.

Sullivan said the officer also has the drug recognition expert designation. With initiative 502 passing in the Nov. election, as of Dec. 6 it will be legal to possess up to an ounce of marijuana for one’s personal use. Sullivan said the driving behavior is similar in the case of an individual who has had too much to drink, as to one who is under the influence of cannabis or other drugs.

“We normally look for the inability for them to maintain their lane, failure to use turn signals, their speed (either too slow or too fast), wide turns, sharp turns or bouncing over curbs,” she said.

She also mentioned texting while driving, another serious faux-pas which can lead to erratic driving.

She said a driver who is multi-tasking will often correct immediately, and not repeat the offending action.

If you are pulled over and suspected of drinking, you will most likely be subjected to a breath test. With suspicion of cannabis, the officer will take you to a hospital for a blood draw to determine THC concentration.

According to Washington code, any person who operates a motor vehicle within the state is deemed to have given consent for these tests.

If at the time of the arrest, the arresting officer has reasonable grounds to believe the person had been driving or was in actual physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of liquor or any drug, if they don’t comply with the tests, they could have their license suspended.

Issaquah traffic officer John Linder said Issaquah doesn’t have a DRE, but on Friday the IPD is hosting officers from other agencies to patrol Issaquah as part of King County Target Zero Task Force, which began in 1988.

The goal of Target Zero is have no traffic deaths in King County by the year 2030.

Linder said IPD will have extra patrols on Christmas and New Year’s. Linder said there have been no DUI fatalities in Issaquah this year.

According to the King County web site, from 2006 to 2010, 224 people died in impaired driver-involved crashes in King County, accounting for 46 percent of all fatal traffic crashes for that period, and an additional 641 people were seriously injured.