During the 2019 Labor Day holiday, Arlington County Police will again partner with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to get drunk drivers off the roads and help save lives. The high-visibility national enforcement campaign, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, runs through Sept. 2. During this period, police will conduct nightly saturation patrols with the goal of drastically reducing incidents of drunk driving on roadways.
According to NHTSA, 10,874 people were killed nationally in drunk-driving crashes in 2017. During the 2017 Labor Day holiday period (6 p.m. Sept. 1 – 5:59 a.m. Sept. 5), there were 376 crash fatalities nationwide. Forty-four percent of those fatalities involved drivers who had been drinking (.01+ BAC). More than one-third (36%) of the fatalities involved drivers who were drunk (.08+ BAC), and more than one-fourth (26%) involved drivers who were driving with a BAC almost twice the legal limit (.15+ BAC).
For additional information and resources on the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign, visit the Traffic Safety Marketing website.