Police plan Midwest crackdown on drunken driving
Police plan Midwest crackdown on drunken driving
By KAYLA GAHAGAN, DMG Writer
The number of people that were lost last year to alcohol-related crashes would be the same as losing all the residents of Keweenaw County — times seven.
The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration report that 16,855 people died last year in alcohol-related crashes.
“We’re looking to have none,” said Don McNamara, NHTSA’s Great Lakes Regional Administrator.
Despite Michigan’s trend in the right direction — numbers have been falling for several years — “we still need to do more,” McNamara said in an interview.
Which is why state, county and local law enforcement throughout the Midwest will be conducting a multi-state, multi-jurisdictional impaired driving crackdown this holiday weekend featuring a new kind of enforcement activity called Enforcement Corridors, according to a written release by the NHTSA.
It is the first time for a crackdown of its kind, McNamara said.
The message is simple: if you drive drunk, you will be arrested, he added.
“There will be no warnings, violators can expect to be taken directly to jail,” he said in the release. “As a consequence, they can lose their licenses, time from their jobs, and money in high fines and court costs as well as face possible imprisonment. Refusing a blood alcohol concentration test means violators can lose their license on the spot and have their vehicle impounded,” he continued.
“Impairment starts with the first drink, whether you feel it or not. If you’re feeling “buzzed’ you are most likely impaired. And if you drive impaired, law enforcement will arrest you,” McNamara added.
The crackdown will run Friday through Monday and comes on the heels of new data that shows alcohol-related fatalities in traffic crashes remain an extremely severe problem nationwide. Nearly 3,000 Midwest law enforcement agencies will be participating in the Labor Day crackdown.
“On a national level, we’ve made no progress,” McNamara said, adding that Michigan’s fatalities dropped to 421 last year, down from 431 in 2004 and continuing the downward trend of the last five years. “But we need to do more.”
“Getting arrested for impaired driving is not the worst thing that can happen to an impaired driver,” said Dr. Andrea Barthwell in the release. She is also co-chairperson of The Coalition to End Needless Death on Our Roadways (END). “Physicians and other health care workers treat both impaired drivers and their victims at roadside crash scenes and in hospital emergency rooms. Let me tell you, nothing is as gut-wrenching as telling someone that their loved one is never coming home.”
Kayla Gahagan can be reached at kgahagan@mininggazette.com
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