Emporia police plan campaign to catch, stop drunk drivers
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Friday, August 3, 2007
Drunken driving is a crime and starting the middle of August, the Emporia Police Department will join thousands of other law enforcement and highway safety agencies across the United States in an initiative to catch drunk drivers.
Interim Police Chief Mike Lopez of the Emporia Police Department said in a release that driving with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher is illegal in every state.
Beginning Aug. 16 and continuing through the Labor Day holiday weekend, Emporia police will participate in a campaign labeled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration with a new slogan: “Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest.”
Lopez said Emporia police will be out in force to pull drunk drivers off the road.
“The message is simple,” Lopez said. “No matter what you drive — a passenger car, sport utility, pick-up or motorcycle — if caught driving impaired over the limit you will be arrested.”
People arrested for a DUI often face jail time, loss of driver’s license, higher insurance rates, attorney’s fees and time away from work.
“If you drink alcohol and drive you will lose,” Lopez said. “Drunk driving is a serious crime.”
Lopez said much of the tragedy of drunken driving, which claimed nearly 13,000 lives in 2004, can be prevented:
• Whenever you plan to consume alcohol, designate a sober person to be the driver before going out and give that person your keys.
• If you are impaired, call a taxi, use local transit or call a sober friend or family member to get you home safely.
• Use the community’s Sober Ride Program. (Corky’s Cab for Emporia State University students).
• If you know someone who is about to drive while impaired, take their keys and help them make other arrangements to get home safely.