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Agencies announce Labor Day impaired driving crackdown
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425
roadside safety checks aimed at drunk drivers
IDOT
devotes $1.7 million for police overtime and media campaign
[September 01, 2007]
SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois
Department of Transportation, Illinois State Police and Secretary of
State Police announced at the state fair in Springfield that they
are teaming up with 350 local law enforcement agencies to launch a
statewide impaired driving crackdown running from Aug. 17 through
the Labor Day holiday.
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 "Illinois has seen a record drop in traffic fatalities under the
leadership of Gov. Rod Blagojevich," said Acting IDOT Secretary Milt
Sees. "But with more than 40 percent of our state's traffic
fatalities involving alcohol, we know we need to continue
aggressively attacking the problem of drunk drivers. Increased
enforcement is a way to save more lives. As summer is winding down,
we are putting the public on notice: If you drink and drive, you are
going to lose.""In 2005 in Illinois, 580 people died in
alcohol-related crashes. That is nearly 50 lives a month," said
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. "The message we want to
share today is simple: If you drive drunk, we will arrest you. I am
proud to partner with IDOT, ISP and local law enforcement agencies
for this very important initiative. Every drunk driving fatality is
one too many."
The statewide Labor Day "You Drink & Drive. You Lose" campaign is
a combined $1.7 million enforcement and education effort to get
drunk drivers off the road. The funds are used to pay for overtime
for police agencies and for a media campaign. Statewide, Illinois
State Police districts and the Secretary of State Police are teaming
up with more than 350 police agencies to perform up to 425 roadside
safety checks.
The Illinois partnership is part of a national campaign being
coordinated with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The national crackdown combines the mobilization of thousands of law
enforcement agencies in all 50 states backed by a major media buy to
raise awareness of the consequences of driving impaired.
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"The message is simple and clear," said Illinois State Police
Director Larry Trent. "We have zero tolerance for drunk drivers in
Illinois. If you are driving impaired, you will be arrested. The ISP
will be out in force with local law enforcement conducting roadside
safety checks, saturation patrols and other enforcement details to
get drunk drivers off the road and save lives that otherwise might
be lost."
According to the NHTSA, studies reveal that nearly 97 percent of
the American public sees drinking and driving by others as a threat
to their families and themselves. Americans support tougher
enforcement and rank impaired driving ahead of health care, poverty,
the environment and gun control as an issue of importance.
Motorists can also expect enforcement agencies to be checking for
compliance with Illinois' primary enforcement safety belt law, in
addition to checking for impairment. Since Blagojevich signed the
primary safety belt law, the usage rate has increased from 76
percent to 90 percent, and the number of fatalities has dropped to
historically low levels. In 2003 there were 1,454 total fatalities.
Since then fatalities have steadily declined to 1,254 in 2006, the
lowest number since 1924.
[Text from
Illinois
Department of Transportation news release received from
the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information]
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