With New Orleanians and visitors celebrating Mardi Gras year, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Louisiana Highway Safety Commission and the NOPD want to remind everyone about the dangers of drinking and driving.
From February 21-March 4, NHTSA will join with the NOPD to spread the word about impaired driving dangers and to work together to get drunk drivers off the roads and help save lives through the high-visibility national enforcement campaign, ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’.
During this period, local law enforcement will show zero tolerance for drunk driving. Increased state and national messages about the dangers of drunk driving, coupled with law enforcement and increased officers on the road, aim to reduce drunk driving on our nation’s roadways drastically.
Sadly, the statistics prove that we have a lot of work to do to put an end to drunk driving.
According to NHTSA, about 37 people in the United States die each day in drunk-driving crashes. That’s one person every 39 minutes. These deaths are all preventable.
To raise awareness and deter impaired driving incidents, officers will be assigned to highly visible, saturated patrol efforts to target impaired drivers and help keep motorists safe specifically.
“We want to see Mardi Gras celebrated, but celebrated safely,” NOPD Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said. “We need commitment from our community members that they’ll keep the streets free of drunk drivers so that everyone can have a safe holiday. This is a campaign to get the message out that drunk driving is illegal and it takes lives. Help us protect the community and put an end to this senseless behaviour.”
The NOPD, LHSC and NHTSA are reminding citizens of the many resources available to get them home safely.
“Drunk driving is not acceptable behaviour,” Kirkpatrick said. “It is essential to plan a sober ride home before you ever leave for the party. That’s why, during the Labor Day holiday, we will make zero exceptions for drunk driving. There are just no excuses.”
