SUBJECT: “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” Enforcement
RELEASE NUMBER: 2019-NR-041
CONTACT: Major Noah Robinson
AUTHORITY: Sheriff Dave Wedding
The Evansville-Vanderburgh County Traffic Safety Partnership is participating in the annual nationwide ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ drunk driving enforcement campaign. Indiana’s high-visibility enforcement effort takes place this month and ends after Labor Day. This drunk driving enforcement campaign will consist of saturation patrols and a DUI checkpoint as part of a comprehensive effort to curb drunk driving.
Members of the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office, Evansville Police Department, Indiana State Police and Indiana State Excise Police within Vanderburgh County will join more than 250 local law enforcement agencies, and thousands more across the country, to conduct high-visibility patrols aimed at discouraging drinking and driving. Research has shown that high-visibility enforcement like the ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ campaign reduces drunk driving fatalities by as much as 20 percent. According to the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute (ICJI), 106 Indiana motorists were killed in alcohol-impairment related collisions last year.
Sheriff Dave Wedding stated, “Our participation in this nationwide effort will help make Vanderburgh County roadways safer for everyone this Labor Day. If you have any doubt about your sobriety, please do not get behind the wheel.” Sheriff Wedding added, “A DUI checkpoint will be conducted over the Labor Day weekend. Anyone caught driving impaired will be arrested. No warnings. No excuses.”
Funding for local impaired driving enforcement is provided by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute through a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
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