As summer winds down, the Virgin Islands Police Department’s Office of Highway Safety is ramping up its enforcement efforts as part of a national crackdown on drunk driving, VIPD Public Information Officer Kevin Jackson announced via press release this afternoon.
The twenty-day, high-visibility campaign dubbed Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, is a partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to curb impaired driving and save lives. During the period of August 21 - September 7, (Labor Day), law enforcement partners nationwide will show zero tolerance for drunk driving.
Increased state and national messaging about the dangers of driving drunk, coupled with checkpoints and increased officers on the road, aim to drastically reduce the toll of drunk driving, the release states.
Drunk-Driving Fatality Statistics
In 2013, there were 10,076 people killed nationally in drunk–driving crashes, almost a third of all traffic fatalities, while 39 percent of crash fatalities on Labor Day weekend that year involved drunk drivers (with blood alcohol concentrations (BACs of .08 or higher), amounting to 161 lives lost. Also, more than a quarter (27%) of the crash fatalities that occurred on Labor Day weekend involved drivers with BACs of .15 or higher—almost twice the illegal per se limit.
Of the 10,076 people who were killed in impaired-driving crashes in 2013, 65 percent were the drunk drivers themselves. Those 6,515 drunk drivers planned on making it to their destinations, but they didn’t.
In every state, it’s illegal to drive with a BAC of .08 or higher. The Office of Highway Safety wants to remind US Virgin Islands drivers that it’s not a recommendation; it’s the law; and during the enforcement period starting August 21, there will be a special emphasis on drunk-driving enforcement.
Local drivers should expect to see more patrol vehicles, DUI checkpoints and increased messaging about the preventable crime of drunk-driving. Locally, between 2010-2014 there were 898 impaired driving arrests made, 488 DUI related crashes, including 7 fatalities.
All this month and year-round, remember that there’s no excuse for drunk driving, the release further stated, adding that the VIPD will "see you before you see them."
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