It is not uncommon for the New Jersey State Police, as well as local and municipal police departments, to carry out some rather heavy anti-drunk driving mobile patrols at various times during the year. If you are from New Jersey or find yourself driving through the Garden State on a fairly regular basis, you likely have noticed this kind of DWI enforcement presence from time to time.
As New Jersey drunken driving defense attorneys, we are in a position to provide legal services to those motorists who have been accused of operating their car, truck or motorcycle in violation of state laws pertaining to driving while intoxicated or operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of a controlled dangerous substance (CDS). Fortunately, here in the Garden State, DWI offenses have yet to be criminalized.
All the same, I and my legal staff know full well that being arrested for DWI or drug DUI (including prescription drugs and even illegal substances such as cocaine, crystal meth and marijuana) is no laughing matter. But we also can state that being charged with such a violation is not equivalent to being convicted of same.
From our standpoint, a person who is resigned to being convicted of DWI needs to prepare for a likely expensive and inconvenient episode in his or her life. Seeking out a qualified trial lawyers skilled in representing clients who have been charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, doctor-prescribed medications or illicit drugs is an important first step following an arrest for DUI or drunken driving.
Back to our original point, however. The summer months seem to be fraught with increased anti-DWI-related police activity, be it enhanced roving vehicular patrols or a plethora of late-night sobriety checkpoints in areas of high DUI incidence. Naturally, nobody wants to be stopped and arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated by beer, wine, hard liquor or drugs, but it can and does happen on a fairly regular basis.
In fact, we are just about to head into another one of the seemingly endless string of DWI “crackdowns.” As news articles all around the state have likely trumpeted, the state’s law enforcement agencies are in a highly active mode running a variety of drunken driving patrols and DWI roadblocks here and there. According to one news report we came across, the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign has been designed to raise awareness of the dangers of getting behind the wheel while inebriated.
Starting in a couple days, and lasting until the end of the Labor Day holiday or thereabouts, police will be making their presence felt as they display posters, banners and mobile video display signs along with a quite active enforcement period. This particular campaign is reportedly in its 14th year, as described by the National Division of Highway Traffic Safety, which with corresponding state agencies provides funding in the form of government grants to add more patrolmen to the statewide effort.
In areas such as New Jersey’s Warren County, municipalities like Hackettstown and Mansfield and Pohatcong Townships will be getting more manpower on local streets to combat the DWI threat. The last Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign operated from early December into the New Year. Results from that effort, at least for the Warren County area, included 25 drunk driving arrests and over 800 other traffic violations. News reports indicate that during that four-week period last winter, police all around the Garden State made about 1,500 DWI-DUI arrests.
It’s also important to remind anyone who thinks that they can get into the driver’s seat after having a drink or two, the odds are probably against you. Besides the increased frequency of police patrols and sobriety roadblocks, other drivers have the power to report a suspected drunken driver by simply picking up their phone and dialing #77 to report a drunk or aggressive motorist.
Police to crack down on drunken driving as part of Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign, LehighValleyLive.com, August 6, 2013