The holiday campaign runs until January 2, 2012, with a goal to help save lives. Suggestions to drivers who want to party yet avoid impaired driving include asking others to drive, taking mass transit, spending the night where the party is held, reporting impaired drivers, buckling up for safety and having a designated driver.
This campaign runs in conjunction with law enforcement efforts to reduce alcohol-related holiday accidents. It will join existing plans for increasing numbers of road patrols and sobriety checkpoints. Reducing drunk driving violations is important to the state of New Jersey because roughly 30 percent of 168 traffic fatalities in 2010 were attributed to alcohol abuse.
Typically, impaired driving violations increase by 10 percent during the end of the year holiday season. It is not that the drunk drivers are bad people; many just do not understand the effects alcohol will have on their judgment that is critical for alert driving skills.
This “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign was initially started by a local family as a way to help others avoid the tragedy of having a child or loved one killed in a collision where a drunk driver was at fault. The family lost their son in a head-on DUI collision that could have been prevented.
The important message of this campaign is that patrols will be out on the roads this December. During these enforcement campaigns, officers generally have a zero tolerance policy. They do not hesitate to arrest a driver when they are even a single point over the legal limit. If you have been pulled over for drunken driving, contact a criminal defense lawyer immediately to protect your rights and remain able to drive.
Source: North Jersey News, “‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ campaign starts,” Albina Sportelli, Dec. 1, 2011