Florida Highway Patrol Plan to Crack Down on DUI in December
December will be a very bad month to drink and drive in Florida. The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) plans a month-long crackdown on drunk driving around the state to reduce the number of deaths this holiday season. The state effort coincides with the Nationwide Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month.
Florida Accident Statistics
FHP wants to have a better holiday season in the state than last year when 32 people died on Florida roads due to alcohol-related crashes over the New Year’s holiday travel period. During the four-day Christmas holiday in 2010, 24 people died on our roads with eight of those crashes alcohol-related. Accidents involving drug use went from 1,090 fatalities in 2009 down to 1,063 in 2010.
The strong presence of law enforcement tends to have a positive effect on reducing roadway deaths, particularly when troopers are ready to conduct field sobriety tests. However the field tests are voluntary and some experts contend that the test results are unreliable. In Florida a blood-alcohol test is considered reliable and accurate and can determine if a driver is impaired, considered to be at 0.08% blood alcohol content and above.
The Farah & Farah drunk driving accident injury lawyers in Florida encourage everyone to assign a designated driver if you plan to drink or take a cab instead of your own car. The same holds true for drugs, many of which are prescription drugs that are given freely by some medical professionals and can have the same negative effect as drinking on driving.
Be sure you make your plans in advance of going out and celebrating because after drinking is a very bad time to make a decision about driving.
Source: http://www.pnj.com/article/20111205/NEWS01/111205007/Florida-Highway-Patrol-cracking-down-driving-under-influence?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p; http://www.flhsmv.gov/ddl/duilaws.html
