TRENTON
– The State launched a stepped-up holiday
drunk driving enforcement campaign today under
the banner “Drive Sober or Get Pulled
Over,” Attorney General Paula T. Dow
and Division of Highway Traffic Safety Acting
Director Gary Poedubicky announced.
The
campaign will provide federal grants of
$5,000 to 98 law enforcement agencies throughout
the state to implement the impaired driving
enforcement initiative.
The enforcement crackdown will run from
December 5 to January 2 as law enforcement
officers conduct saturation patrols and
sobriety checkpoints, looking for motorists
who may be driving while intoxicated.
“The
decision to drive drunk is not only illegal,
but reckless and irresponsible behavior,
one that puts motorists choosing to do so
and the public at large in great danger,”
Dow said. “The winter holiday saturation
patrols and checkpoints will be deployed
to apprehend those who ignore our warnings
and ultimately to save lives.”
In
the winter of 2010, the crackdowns resulted
in 2,115 Driving While Intoxicated arrests,
up from 1,959 in 2009. In addition, participating
police agencies issued 8,687 speeding summonses
and 5,119 seat belt summonses, and more
than 2,000 fugitives were apprehended during
the mobilization.
In
2010, there were 168 fatalities directly
attributed to impaired driving in the state,
accounting for 30 percent of the 556 total
crash fatalities.
The
national public awareness campaign, which
had been called “Over the Limit, Under
Arrest” since 2006, has been rebranded
to refocus on what the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) research
has long found to be an at-risk demographic:
18-34 year-old males. In 2010, 73 drivers
between the ages of 18 and 34 died in alcohol-related
crashes in New Jersey. Sixty-one of them,
or 84 percent, were male. Overall, 80 percent
of drunk driving fatalities in the Garden
State were male-related in 2010.
Those
numbers are also reflected nationally. According
to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
report, males aged 21-34 were only 11 percent
of the drinking public nationwide in 2010,
yet were responsible for 32 percent of all
instances of drunk driving.
“Drunk
driving is an issue that affects all demographics,
whether it is age, race or sex. But historically,
statistics have shown that 18-34 year-old
males were the major at-risk group and I
believe the transition to ‘Drive Sober
or Get Pulled Over’ is another step
in the right direction to reduce and eventually
eliminate drunk driving in that demographic,”
Poedubicky said.
The
Division of Highway Traffic Safety offers
the following advice to ensure a safe holiday
travel season for those who choose to drink
alcohol:
-
Take mass transit, a
taxi or ask a sober friend to drive you
home.
-
Spend the night rather
than get behind the wheel.
-
Report impaired drivers
to law enforcement. In New Jersey, drivers
may dial #77 to report a drunk or aggressive
driver.
- Always
buckle up, every ride, regardless
of your seating position in the vehicle.
It’s your best defense against an
impaired driver.
- If
you’re intoxicated and
traveling on foot, the safest way to get
home is to take a cab or have a sober
friend or family member drive or escort
you to your doorstep.
A
list of police agencies receiving mobilization
grants is available on the Division’s
web site, at www.nj.gov/oag/hts/downloads/DSOGPO_12-2011-2012_Grant_Recipients.pdf.
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