The La Porte Police Department announced today the completion of the national and statewide 2015 Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement mobilization campaign. During the annual 20-day enforcement period officers working extra patrols wrote 29 tickets and 128 warnings and made one arrest for driving while intoxicated within the City of La Porte.
“The importance of driving sober cannot be overstated,” said Captain Tom Heath. “Ensuring drivers understand the risks of driving impaired are a priority we share all across the state. This campaign drives home the message that sober driving is the only safe way to drive.”
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2012, an average of one alcohol related driving fatality occurred every 51 minutes. Further, NHTSA statistics show each year on average, more than 10,000 people die on U.S. roadways, due to intoxicated driving.
“Eliminating impaired driving is a priority in our state,” said Indiana Criminal Justice Institute Director, Dave Murtaugh. “With help from all of our partners, we will continue to raise awareness and enforcement on such an important topic – until our Indiana roadways are the safest roadways in the country.”
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over is an annual enforcement effort supported by federal highway safety funding. The Indiana Criminal Justice Institute distributes funding to more than 250 participating Indiana law enforcement agencies.
The La Porte would also like to announce that we will be running 50 hours of seat belt patrols from September 9 – 23. This will wrap up our Operation Pull Over activities for federal fiscal year 2015 which ends on September 30.
For more information regarding the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement mobilization campaign, please visit: http://www.nhtsa.gov/drivesober/. To learn more about the La Porte Police Department, please visit: http://www.lpcitypd.com/.