LITTLE ROCK — State and local law enforcement agencies will beef up patrols and conduct sobriety checkpoints statewide, beginning Friday, in a campaign to curb drunk driving this Christmas travel season.
“Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” is an annual mobilization effort sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The campaign will run through Jan. 2.
“Law enforcement will be working overtime during the holidays to keep Arkansas roadways safe,” said Col. JR Howard, director of the Arkansas State Police and the governor’s highway safety representative. “Our heightened presence should remind all motorists to drive sober and not endanger themselves, their families or other motorists.”
Driving with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 grams per deciliter or higher is illegal in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
According to the latest national statistics, nearly 11,000 people were killed in alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes in 2009. Of the 585 people killed in Arkansas during 2009, 168 — 29 percent — were killed in crashes involving drunk drivers.