Crime & Safety

Drive Sober: County Sheriff to Increase Late-Night Traffic Enforcement

As the Labor Day holiday weekend nears, the Sheriff's Department will be on the streets more between midnight at 3 a.m., when they say alcohol involvement is up and seat belt use is down, hoping to prevent DUI accidents.

As the Labor Day weekend nears, the Will County Sheriff's Department says its officers will be cracking down on drunken driving.

The sheriff's office announced Monday plans for the Labor Day "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" campaign, which will increase efforts against an "overwhelming number" of impaired drivers, particularly between midnight and 3 a.m.

According to data from the Illinois Department of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the midnight to 3 a.m. timeframe is the deadliest time on Illinois roadways. Not coincidentally, the data also shows this time of day has the highest percentage of alcohol involvement and the lowest safety belt usage rate.

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"The numbers do not lie," spokesman Ken Kaupas said in a news release. "We will be stepping up our late-night enforcement efforts, making sure impaired drivers are off the road and motorists are buckled up."

In New Lenox, DUI arrests are down in 2011. Through July 2011 there are 33 arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol by the (which doesn't include statistics from the Will County Sheriff's Department). That number is down from the same time period last year, in which 45 people had been arrested on drunken driving charges.

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There were 86 total DUI arrests by New Lenox police in 2010, which . According to police blotter reports, the overwhelming majority of DUI arrests this year were made after midnight.

The Will County Sheriff's Department has made 13 DUI arrests in New Lenox so far this year, and nine of those followed a car accident in which the driver was accused of drinking.

To celebrate the holiday safely, the sheriff's department is reminding people to designate a sober driver.


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