“Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” Nationwide Campaign Launched by DOT
There is a new nationwide ad campaign to crackdown on pre-dawn drunk driving crashes. Every 23 minutes a life is lost and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) is launching the nationwide “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign which will focus on nighttime law enforcement. That’s because research shows that the hours between midnight and 3 a.m. are the most deadly for drunk driving crashes. The campaign will be sent out to the American driving public, said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Research by the DOT found that among crashes occurring during those hours, two-thirds involved a drunk driver. The DOT also found that one out of four of the nearly 11,000 drivers killed in car crashes that involved a drunk driver in 2009 died between midnight and 3 a.m. Other findings:
- One in three drivers between the ages of 21 to 24 involved in fatal crashes had consumed alcohol and were impaired.
- Drivers in the 25 to 34 age group were the second group most likely to be involved in an alcohol-impaired fatal crash.
- The next worst hours for fatal crashes involving alcohol were between 9 p.m. and midnight and 3 a.m. to 6 a.m.
The Jacksonville drunk driving accident victim lawyers at the Farah & Farah law firm advise drivers who go to a bar to be reminded — law enforcement plans to be observing alcohol-impaired individuals before they start the car. It is definitely a good time to return to the “designated driver” policy or take a cab. Individual states will coordinate their advertising with the DOT and enforce drunk driving laws. The first crackdown will take place in the last week of August through the Labor Day holiday. Expect the campaign to last nationwide until the year 2016.
Sources: http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811523.pdf and http://drivesober.nhtsa.gov/
