TAPD Join Forces For “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” Campaign

The Texarkana Arkansas Police Department is joining with law enforcement throughout the nation for the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign August 16 to September 2, 2013. Law enforcement officers will be stepping up enforcement of traffic safety laws looking for impaired drivers. Overtime Funds for this campaign are provided by a Selective Traffic Enforcement Grant funded through the State of Arkansas and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The strong nationwide impaired driving crackdown will include high-visibility enforcement, and will be supported by national paid advertising, creating a comprehensive campaign to curb alcohol impaired driving in August and through the Labor Day holiday weekend (6 p.m. Sept. 3- 5:59 a.m. Sept. 7).

Public Information Officer Sgt Chris Rankin said officers will be aggressively looking for impaired drivers during the crackdown and will arrest anyone caught driving impaired. The latest statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration underscore the serious nature of the nation’s continuing drunk driving epidemic.

“Every year, about one third of all motor vehicle traffic deaths involve one or more drunk drivers or motorcycle operators,” said Sergeant Rankin. “In 2011 9,878 people died in crashes involving drunk drivers. That works out to approximately one drunk driving fatality every 53 minutes.”