This Labor Day, Warren County Safe Communities Coalition wants you to remember: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over

WARREN COUNTY, Ohio (August 24, 2016) – This Labor Day weekend, families and friends will be celebrating the end of the summer. Sadly, this festive time has also become a dangerous time for America’s roads, as many drunk drivers get behind the wheel after celebrating. For this reason, Ohio State Highway Patrol is partnering with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to stop drunk drivers and help save lives. 

The high-visibility national enforcement campaign, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, started Aug. 19 and runs until Sept. 5, 2016. During this period, local law enforcement will show zero tolerance for drunk driving. Increased state and national messaging about the dangers of driving drunk, coupled with sobriety checkpoints and increased officers on the road, aim to drastically reduce drunk driving on our nation’s roads.

So far this year, there have been nine fatal vehicle crashes in Warren County. Three of the nine deadly accidents that occurred between Jan. 1 and Aug. 15, 2016, involved drivers under the influence, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol statistics.

That compares to 14 fatal accidents on Warren County roads throughout the whole year of 2015, of which four were drug or alcohol related, according to highway patrol records.

“People need to understand that drunk driving is not only deadly, but it is illegal,” said Lt. Chuck O’Bryon, of the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Lebanon post. “Drunk driving is a massive problem in the United States, with more than 10,000 people dying annually. Drivers need to pay attention to their own driving, but also to others on the road who could be driving drunk,” he added.

Nationally, estimates are that about 40 percent of fatalities during Labor Day 2014 weekend traffic crashes (6 p.m. Aug. 29 to 5:59 a.m. Sept. 2) involved drunk drivers, the most recent information available, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And we’re not just talking about a little bit of alcohol, either. More than a quarter (28 percent) of the crash fatalities that occurred on Labor Day weekend in the past involved drivers with blood alcohol content of .15 or higher—almost twice the illegal limit.

“Please, please: plan ahead before you go out,” said Mandy Wells, Warren County Safe Communities Coalition coordinator and Atrium Medical Center Trauma Outreach coordinator. “Designate a sober driver or call a cab. But whatever you do, do not drink and drive.”

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