MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. — Law enforcement officers nationwide are stepping up their efforts to keep drunk drivers off the road.
The Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign, headed by the U.S Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, kicks off December 13 and runs through January 1.
The goal is to educate drivers about the dangers of drinking and driving and increase enforcement.
The Martin County Sheriffs Office is among those agencies participating.
“We have our typical staffing for our DUI shift and we’re doing increased efforts to put more deputies on the roads to enforce traffic laws and make DUI arrests,” explained Sgt. David Rosko.
Sgt. David Rosko says in December of 2018, more than 800 people in the state of Florida lost their lives in DUI related crashes.
“This time of year for the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, we actually have our highest amount of DUI arrests,” Rosko said. “A lot of holiday parties going on with coworkers, people going out. We have a higher influx of residents coming back into season in the area.”
Rosko said officers will be aggressively watching for signs of impairment.
“We’re looking for specific driving patterns, [such as] anybody unable to maintain their lane, someone driving slow or uncommonly slow for an area- going down US 1 at 30 MPH when everyone is passing them at 45,” Rosko described.
The U.S Department of Transportation reports each year, America loses an average of more than 10,000 people to drunk driving crashes.
Rosko hopes the effort reduces the number of preventable tragedies on the roadways.
“When you do make the arrests, not to say it makes you happy, but it is satisfying to know you are potentially saving somebody’s life, whether it’s the life of the person you’re actually arresting or the life of somebody else they could negatively impact in some way shape or form.”
The campaign coincides with the Drive High, Get a DUI effort, reminding drivers alcohol impairment is not the only concern for law enforcement, but also any kind of drug use behind the wheel.
