Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over
West Chicago, Illinois: August 18, 2015 - As summer winds down, the West Chicago Police Department is ramping up its traffic enforcement efforts as part of the national crackdown on drunk driving. The high visibility campaign, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, is a partnership with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Illinois Department of Transportation to curb drunk and drugged driving and save lives.
From August 24, 2015 through September 7, 2015 (Labor Day), law enforcement partners nationwide will show zero tolerance for drunk driving. Increased state and national messaging about the dangers of driving impaired by alcohol or other drugs, coupled with roadside safety checks and increased officers on the road, aim to drastically reduce the toll of impaired driving. In addition, seat belt law violators will receive a ticket - no exceptions.
In 2013, there were 10,076 people killed in drunken driving crashes in the U.S., almost one-third of all traffic fatalities. 38 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.
"Too many people think their actions don't impact anybody else," said Commander Stephen Laub "They know it's illegal. They know it's wrong. But they do it anyway - they make decisions as if those statistics just can't happen to them."