The coming holiday season is well known for its parties and family gatherings, and despite the poor economy drunk driving arrests are sure to surge during the next few weeks. In response, New Jersey DWI enforcement units are taking to the streets in an effort to reduce the instance of driving while intoxicated. As leading drunk driving defense lawyers, my firm has experience in a wide range of DWI and drug DUI defense. Recent news of the “Over the Limit, Under Arrest” campaign is evidence that drunk driving patrols will be working overtime in the Garden State.
According to news reports, law enforcement agencies across the state are already conducting saturation patrols and operating sobriety checkpoints, also known as sobriety roadblocks, as part of the nationwide drunk driving campaign. Enforcement will continue, say police, through January 3, 2010.
New Jersey’s Division of Highway Traffic Safety is funding the local initiative, which began in 1999. According to reports, the division provides $5,000 grants to law enforcement agencies to cover overtime for those officers assigned to DWI patrols or checkpoints.
To illustrate the extent of the effort, 110 Jersey police agencies will receive grants, according to Pam Fischer, the division’s director. The campaign will also include the New Jersey State Police.
A police spokesperson indicated that the holiday DWI crackdown will see officers on the street spending about four hours looking for “possible alcohol-impaired drivers” along with their regular patrols. “It’s important that we keep everybody safe on the roads, especially near the holidays,” said Vineland police Sgt. Vince Solazzo of the city’s Traffic Safety Unit.
Police remind the public that last year, 11,773 people across the United States died in crashes involving a drunk driving, this is according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). According to reports, New Jersey saw 165 people killed in alcohol-related crashes in 2008, down from 195 in ’07.
Extra drunken-driving patrols coming to South Jersey, CourierPostOnline.com, December 8, 2009