K-County To?Patrol For ‘Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over’
Posted
-
From mid-August through Labor Day, police will be working overtime to arrest impaired drivers. Kosciusko County Traffic Safety Partnership is joining about 230 law-enforcement agencies across Indiana and thousands nationwide in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over mobilization. Expect to see increased sobriety checkpoints, roving patrols and saturation patrols.
The annual Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement campaign includes Labor Day weekend, with thousands of Indiana families traveling for barbecues, football games, lakes and pool parties. It is also one of the deadliest times of year for impaired-driving deaths.
“Any substance that makes you feel different – like legal or illegal drugs and alcohol – can also make you drive different,” said Craig Allebach, Kosciusko County Traffic Safety Partnership Grant Administrator. “Designate a sober driver today as officers will be on patrol for impaired drivers.”
In every state, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. In Indiana, drivers under 21 with a BAC of .02 or higher are subject to fines and a license suspension for up to one year. But DWI includes more than alcohol, and there is no quick field test for the many prescription, over-the-counter and illegal drugs that can impair drivers. To assist with traffic enforcement, ICJI recently provided Indiana police agencies with 2,600 portable breath tests to evaluate alcohol impairment in drivers, 1,000 RADAR and LIDAR speed-measurement devices and Android tablets for 248 highly trained police officers who document drugged drivers.
Law enforcement recommends these safe alternatives to impaired driving: designate, or be, a sober driver; use public transportation; call a cab or a ridesharing service; download the SaferRide mobile app on the Android Play Store or the Apple iTunes Store; celebrate at home or a place where you can stay until sober; never provide alcohol to minors; ask young drivers about their plans; and take the keys of friends and family members and make alternate arrangements.
If you see an impaired driver, turn off the road away from the vehicle and call 911. Signs of impaired driving include weaving, swerving, drifting, or straddling the center line; driving at a very slow speed; braking erratically; making wide turns; stopping without cause; responding slowly to traffic signals; driving after dark with headlights off; closely missing an object or vehicle; turning abruptly or illegally; and driving on the wrong side of the road.
Motorcycles are about 3% of registered vehicles, but are dramatically over-represented in impaired driving crashes. And the more that bikers are impaired, the less likely they are to wear helmets. Drivers should also watch for impaired pedestrians who may not be paying attention to their surroundings.
Overtime patrols are supported with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration funds distributed by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI). For more information, visit http://on.IN.gov/drivesober.
