Holiday party-goers, beware!  To help save lives this holiday season, Richland County Law Enforcement is launching a special “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” crackdown to stop impaired drivers and to save lives on our roadways.

Richland County officers, deputies and troopers will be aggressively looking for impaired drivers and will arrest anyone caught driving impaired. Enforcement efforts will include units from the villages of Bellville, Butler, Lexington, and Plymouth, the cities of Mansfield, Ontario, and Shelby, the Richland County Sheriff’s Office and the Mansfield post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol. The special enforcement crackdown will run from December 12, 2012, through January 1, 2013.

“Lots of folks will be out during this busy holiday season, enjoying themselves and the holiday festivities, and we want everyone to be safe on our roadways,” said Reed Richmond, Health Educator at the Mansfield/Ontario/Richland County Health Department and a Richland County Safe Communities Coalition spokesperson. “That’s why Richland County cops will be stepping up enforcement to catch and arrest impaired drivers.  Please be forewarned.  If you are caught drinking and driving impaired, you will be arrested. No warnings. No excuses.”

During 2010, more than 10,000 people were killed nationwide in motor vehicle traffic crashes involving an impaired driver.

The holiday season is a particularly dangerous time. During December 2010, 30 percent of all fatalities in motor vehicle traffic crashes involved alcohol-impaired drivers. Data also shows that among those alcohol-impaired-driving fatalities, 71 percent occurred when drivers had nearly twice the legal limit blood alcohol concentration of .15 grams per deciliter or higher.

“No one ever thinks that their holiday celebration will end in jail, or worse, in a hospital or the morgue,” said Richmond. “But for those who include alcohol in their celebrations and then get behind the wheel, this is often the case.”

In Ohio in 2011, there were 369 traffic fatalities that were the result of alcohol-impaired drivers, accounting for 36.35% of Ohio’s total traffic fatalities. Of the 13 traffic deaths in Ohio between Christmas and New Year’s Day last year, five were alcohol-related.  In 2011 in Richland County, alcohol-impaired drivers caused five deaths and 91 injuries in traffic crashes.

It is illegal in all 50 States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico to drive with a BAC of .08 or higher.  Violators face jail time, loss of driver license, and steep financial consequences such as higher insurance rates, attorney fees, court costs, lost time at work, and the potential loss of job.

The Richland County Safe Communities Coalition recommends three simple steps people can take to stay safe and out of trouble:
1. Plan ahead.  If you will be drinking, do not plan on driving. Designate a sober driver or find another safe way home. Even one too many drinks increases the risk of a crash while driving a motor vehicle.
2. If you are impaired, find another way home.  Use a taxi, call a sober friend or family member, or use public transportation.
3. Be responsible.  If someone you know is drinking, do not let them get behind the wheel.  If you see an impaired driver on the road, contact law enforcement.  Your actions may save someone’s life, and inaction could cost a life.

 “We want everyone to enjoy their holidays, but we also want our roadways to be safe,” Richmond said. “Our law enforcement organizations will be out in force to help save lives, and they are not going to tolerate impaired driving. So remember, ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’.”

For more information, visit the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” Campaign Headquarters at www.nhtsa.gov/drivesober.