Drunk Driving Crackdown Comes to Bridgewater

The Bridgewater Township Police Department will be cracking down on drunk driving throughout the holiday season with participation in the statewide “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign.

The campaign, according to a release from the police department, begins Dec. 7 and runs through Jan. 2 as officers conduct saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints to find motorists who may be intoxicated.

The release said the campaign is a national effort to raise awareness about the dangers of drinking and driving with the use of high-visibility enforcement and public education, including posters, banners and video display signs.

The program was initially launched in 1999.

According to the release, the number of people driving while impaired during the holiday season increases by 10 percent. The program intends to bring attention to the consequences of drunk driving, the release said.

In 2011, the release said, a total of 152 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes. That is 24 percent of the 627 traffic fatalities in 2011.

The department is offering advice for avoiding driving while intoxicated:

• Take mass transit or ask a sober friend to drive you home.
• Spend the night where an activity is being held.
• Report impaired drivers to law enforcement by calling #77.
• Wear your seat belt on every drive.
• If you were traveling on foot, and are intoxicated, take a cab or have someone take you to your doorstep.

In addition, the release said, drivers are being asked to subscribe to the pledge of the Ensign John R. Elliot HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers, which states, “Drive sober, be a designated driver and don’t let friends drive drunk.”

The campaign, the release said, was started by the Elliot family, whose son, John, was killed in a head-on collision with a drunk driver.