You Drink & Drive. You Lose.

We all support law enforcement efforts to protect us from theft, burglary, assault and terrorism. Yet, many otherwise law abiding citizens continue to view impaired driving merely as a harmless traffic offense. Don't be fooled. Impaired driving is one of the most often committed crimes, randomly killing someone every 30 minutes. That means you, your family or friends are equally likely to be innocent victims.

As part of the You Drink & Drive. You Lose. National Crackdown, law enforcement agencies throughout the country will be working overtime to protect everyone from impaired drivers during this holiday season. From December 19, 2003 to January 4, 2004 local and state officials will be out in full force conducting sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols to arrest and prosecute these criminals to the fullest extent of the law.

The message is simple - You Drink and Drive. You Lose. Violators can lose their licenses, time from their jobs, and money in high fines and court costs. They can also face imprisonment for prepeat offenses, assault and vehicular manslaughter.

Why the tough stance? After a decade of gradual success, fatalities in alcohol-related crashes have not significantly improved nationally in the last 3 years. On an average of one person is injured approximately every 2 minutes in alcohol-related crashes.

We must all do more if we are to significantly reduce the number of alcohol-and drug-related crashes. We must begin by recommitting ourselves and intensifying our national, State and local efforts. Each of us can do our part by designating a sober driver, stopping impaired family members and friends from getting behind the wheel, reporting impaired drivers to law enforcement officials, and teaching our young people safe, alcohol-and drug-free behavior.

Keep the phone number for your local law enforcement agency handy, and when you spot a suspected impaired driver, do not hesitate to report the vehicle to law enforcement. Use these visual cues to detect an impaired driver:

• Problems Maintaining Proper Lane Position - weaving, weaving across lane lines, straddling a lane line, swerving, turning with a wide radius, drifting, almost striking a vehicle or other object.
• Speed and Braking Problems - stopping problems (too far, too short, or too jerky), accelerating or decelerating for no apparent reason, varying speed, slow speed (10+ mph under limit).
• Vigilance Problems - driving in opposing lanes or wrong way on one-way, slow response to traffic signals, stopping in lane for no apparent reason, driving without headlights at night, failure to signal or signal inconsistent with action
• Judgment Problems - following too closely, improper or unsafe lane change, illegal or improper turn (too fast, jerky, sharp, etc.), driving on other than the designated roadway, inappropriate or unusual behavior (throwing, arguing, etc.).

Sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, undercover officers and concerned citizens...chances are if you drive impaired this holiday you'll get caught. This holiday and every day, please celebrate responsibly, or chances are you'll be taking a ride straight to jail. Remember: You Drink & Drive. You Lose.

Always wear your safety belt - your best defense against an impaired driver.

For more information about impaired driving and the National Crackdown, please visit www.stopimpaireddriving.org.