Holiday Impaired Driving Campaign Launches Nationwide

U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood launched a nationwide impaired driving crackdown Monday in Arlington, Va. to cover the Christmas and New Year's Eve holidays, when crashes and fatalities tend to increase. The crackdown will continue until Jan. 3.

The department will continue its annual "Stop Impaired Driving: Drunk Driving. Over The Limit. Under Arrest" winter holiday enforcement campaign involving 11,000 law enforcement agencies across the nation.

What’s new this year is a "No Refusal" strategy that a number of states are utilizing to reduce impaired driving, says Heidi Coleman, chief, Impaired Driving Division, of DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Through the "No Refusal" strategy, law enforcement officers are able to obtain warrants quickly, 24 hours a day, from "on call" judges in order to take blood samples from suspected drunk drivers who refuse a breath test.

"Drunk driving remains a leading cause of death and injury on our roadways," LaHood said in a news release. "I applaud the efforts of the law enforcement officials who have pioneered the 'No Refusal' approach to get drunk drivers off our roads. And I urge other states to adopt this approach to make sure that drunk drivers can't skirt the law and are held accountable."

According to NHTSA’s statistics on impaired driving trends across the nation, a large proportion of people in many states pulled over for DUIs refuse to take an alcohol breath test. The latest data show the states with the highest refusal rates included New Hampshire at 81 percent; Massachusetts at 41 percent; Florida at 40 percent; Louisiana at 39 percent and Ohio at 38 percent.

States already using the “No Refusal” strategy to remove impaired drivers from the road include Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Utah, Idaho, and Arizona.

Coleman says that Texas, which has one of the highest rates of fatalities linked to drunk driving, has been actively implementing the “No Refusal” program and it reduced their refusal rates dramatically.

The holiday enforcement crackdown is supported by $7 million in national TV and radio advertising. In addition, coalitions are continuing, oftentimes the driving force in getting public health messages out to their communities, to partner with local law enforcement agencies to remind people to designate a sober driver or find a safe ride home as part of President Obama’s recent National Impaired Driving Month proclamation.

“The bottom line is to reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities,” Coleman says. “You don’t want the holiday to turn into a tragedy.”

More than 10,000 people were killed last year in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, including 753 in December alone.

NHTSA has developed and published a new toolkit for agencies and coalitions who are interested in implementing a “No Refusal” program in their area, which can be conducted during any part of the year, not just at the most high-risk times. Included in the kit are step-by- step guidelines, a sample news release and a sample affidavit.

The “Drunk Driving. Over The Limit. Under Arrest" campaign will also occur the last two weeks of August for Labor Day.