| THP cracking down on drunk driving |
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Posted: Friday, July 2, 2010 1:28 pm
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Last year, a mid-morning accident on State Route 190 in Weakley County claimed one life during the 2009 Fourth of July holiday weekend.
As an effort to combat fatalities and drunk driving, the Tennessee Highway Patrol announced Wednesday that state troopers will be out in full force during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, cracking down on drunk drivers with an aggressive Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest enforcement blitz.
To ensure motorists are obeying the law, the THP will conduct sobriety and driver license checkpoints across the state in an effort to reduce fatalities and serious injury crashes.
The 2010 July 4th, 78-hour Holiday period begins at 6 p.m., Friday, July 2, and will end at 11:59 p.m., Sunday, July 5.
During the 2009 July 4 holiday weekend, 16 people died in 15 crashes on Tennessee roadways. That’s a fatality rate of one death every four hours and 53 minutes. Five of the 10 people killed last year were vehicle occupants and were not wearing seatbelts.
Five motorcyclists also died during last year’s July 4th holiday weekend. Two of the deaths, or 12.5 percent, occurred in alcohol-related crashes.
In 2008, national statistics indicate 32 percent of all drivers involved in traffic-related crashes during the July 4th holiday period had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher, the legal limit in all states.
Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest problems. Nationwide, in 2008, 37,261 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes. Out of that number, 11,733 people were killed in traffic crashes that involved at least one driver or motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher.
In Tennessee in 2009, 989 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes. There were 136 people who were killed in traffic crashes that involved at least one driver or motorcycle rider with a BAC of .08 or higher.
WCP 7.01.10
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