Extra officers on patrol through Labor Day weekend
Sunscreen: check. Hot dogs: check. Safe ride home: check. Before heading out for a barbeque or the beach this August be sure to include a sober driver on your checklist.
Extra officers across the state will step up drunk driving patrols during the Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest. crackdown Aug. 19 through Sept 6.
Officers in thirty counties will work extra patrols paid for with federal traffic safety funds administered by the Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP). Grant-funded counties are Allegan, Barry, Bay, Berrien, Calhoun, Cass, Chippewa, Genesee, Grand Traverse, Houghton, Ingham, Isabella, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Kent, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Marquette, Monroe, Muskegon, Oakland, Ottawa, Saginaw, St. Clair, Tuscola, Van Buren, Washtenaw, Wayne and Wexford.
“If you plan to drink, be sure to plan for a safe ride home, otherwise a police officer could be your driver,” said Michael L. Prince, OHSP director. “State, local and county officers will be out in force looking for impaired drivers and if you are caught driving drunk, you will be arrested.”
Despite a nearly six percent drop in impaired driving-related fatalities in 2009, alcohol is involved in 35 percent of Michigan traffic fatalities and accounted for 299 traffic fatalities last year. During the 2009 Labor Day holiday period, 16 people died in crashes with four of those fatalities involving alcohol.
For a list of planned patrol dates, times and locations, please visit www.michigan.gov/ohsp.
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