Our message remains as important as ever: “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.”
• • Drunk driving continues to take a terrible toll on the Nation, killing almost 10,000 people each year.
• • In 2011, the latest year for national statistics, there were 9,878 fatalities on America’s highways in which drunk drivers or motorcycle riders were involved. That works out to about an average of one fatality every 53 minutes.
• • Labor Day holidays are particularly dangerous for encountering drunk drivers.
• • During the Labor Day holiday in 2011, 138 people were killed nationwide in crashes involving drivers or motorcyclists whose blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) registered at least .08 or higher. It is illegal in all 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to drive dunk (having a BAC of .08 or higher).
• • That’s why local law enforcement agencies are banding together across the Nation to get drunk drivers off our roads by aggressively conducting the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign.
• • This year’s campaign will run from mid-August through the Labor Day holiday (August 16 through September 2).
• • Our message is simple and consistent: “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.”
• • Our strategies and tactics are also simple: Be visible, be vigilant and let local motorists know that if they drive drunk, they will be caught and they will be arrested.
• • Law enforcement agencies have many tools at their disposal to make the 2013 crackdown a successful campaign, including enlisting the support of local media outlets to publicize the presence of day and night saturation patrols, sobriety check points (if allowed) and other high-visibility enforcement efforts.
• • High-profile crackdowns like the Labor Day enforcement campaign work. Research shows high-visibility enforcement can reduce drunk driving fatalities by as much as 20 percent.
• • Local law enforcement agencies are continuing to commit wholeheartedly to fighting drunk driving in their communities, not only during holidays, but all year long.