According to Cherokee County Sheriff Jeff Shaver, the high-visibility national enforcement campaign, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, runs around the Labor Day holiday weekend. During this period, local law enforcement will show zero tolerance for impaired driving. Increased State and national messages about the dangers of driving impaired, coupled with enforcement and increased officers on the road, aim to drastically reduce impaired driving on our nation’s roadways.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office, in conjunction with the ADECA Traffic Safety Office, and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), will be conducting increased high visibility traffic enforcement to reduce crashes, traffic deaths, injuries, and enforce impaired driving laws to save lives during this campaign. DUI checkpoints will be conducted throughout this campaign as well as DUI high visibility saturation patrols.

Each year, Americans mark the end of summer with the Labor Day holiday weekend, a time to celebrate the hard work and many accomplishments of our country. Friends and families eagerly await pool parties, backyard barbecues, and other occasions to enjoy the last days of summer sunshine. This is also the time of year when our children typically return to school following their summer vacation. Sadly, the Labor Day holiday has also become one of the deadliest, with impaired drivers endangering themselves and others on their way home from these holiday festivities.

Statistics prove that we have a lot of work to do to put an end to impaired driving. According to NHTSA, 10,497 people were killed in impaired-driving crashes in 2016. On average, 11,000 people were killed each year from 2012 to 2016—one person killed every 50 minutes in 2016. That’s the equivalent of 20 jumbo jets crashing each year, with no survivors.

High visibility enforcement has been the key to success across the nation evident in minimal law enforcement response to serious injury crashes or fatalities. Sheriff Shaver urges everyone to continue to help local law enforcement and the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office prevent senseless tragedies on roadways!