St. Patrick's partiers beware: police are watching

St. Patrick's Day is coming and that means authorities in Illinois are going to be looking a lot closer at whether or not motorists have had a little too much green beer.

The Illinois Department of Transportation has announced it is teaming up with local law enforcement agencies — with the help of $800,000 in federal funds — to beef up the number of roadside safety checks, patrol cars on the roads and other efforts beginning Friday. They will run next week — including Thursday, St. Patrick's Day — through next weekend.

The transportation department is encouraging party goers to designate sober drivers before the parties begin, and is encouraging those who are drinking to hand their car keys over so they can't drive.