Local law enforcement agencies join in holiday DWI crackdown
Through Labor Day weekend, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is working with local law enforcement in Garland County to decrease impaired driving.
Beginning Friday and continuing through Sept. 5, the Hot Springs Police Department, Garland County Sheriff’s Office and Arkansas State Police will be participating in the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign.
“In support of the law enforcement community’s dedication to protecting the lives of residents in their communities, you’ll see officers working together during this time to take drunk drivers off the roads. No matter how you plan to celebrate the end of the season this year, make sure you plan it safely,” a news release said.
This high-visibility drunk-driving awareness period will help spread the message about the dangers of drinking and driving. NHTSA and the Hot Springs Police Department want drivers to understand the importance of planning ahead for a sober driver if alcohol is included in the Labor Day celebration plans, HSPD Officer 1st Class Omar Cervantes, the department’s public information officer, said in the release.
According to NHTSA statistics, 11,654 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2020 that involved an alcohol-impaired driver. On average, more than 10,000 people were killed each year from 2016 to 2020, and one person was killed in a drunk-driving crash every 45 minutes in 2020.
This is why the Garland County Sheriff’s Office is working together with NHTSA to remind drivers that drunken driving is not only illegal, it is a matter of life and death, Sheriff’s Deputy Courtney Kizer, the office’s public information officer, said in the release.
During the 2020 Labor Day holiday period, from 6 p.m. on Sept. 4 to 5:59 a.m. on Sept. 8, there were 530 crash fatalities nationwide and 46% involved drivers who had been drinking, 38% involved drivers who were drunk, .08% blood alcohol content, and 25% involved drivers who were driving with a BAC almost twice the legal limit, .15% or above.
Age is a particularly risky factor, according to the release. Among drivers between the ages of 21 and 34 who were killed in crashes over the Labor Day holiday period in 2020, 44% of those drivers were drunk, with BACS of .08 or higher.
“On average, a DWI can set you back $10,000 in attorney’s fees, fines, court costs, lost time at work, higher insurance rates, and more. If you’re caught drinking and driving, you can face jail time. Imagine trying to explain that to your friends and family or your place of employment,” the release said.
The financial impact from impaired-driving crashes is devastating. Based on 2010 numbers (the most recent year for which cost data is available), impaired-driving crashes cost the United States $44 billion annually.
For more information on impaired driving, visit www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving.