Lake County Gazette

Park City, IL — The Park City Police Department collaborated with the Illinois Department of Transportation and law enforcement agencies statewide for the "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" holiday enforcement campaign. This initiative took place from December 16 to January 2, during which the department maintained a strict stance against impaired driving, resulting in one arrest.

Commander Ken Stoves emphasized the risks associated with impaired driving: "We can’t stress this enough: Impaired driving is illegal, potentially deadly behavior, and it puts the driver, passengers and all road users at risk," he said. He further highlighted that the campaign aids law enforcement in directly addressing this issue. "If you use any impairing substance, do not get behind the wheel of a vehicle."

To bolster their usual enforcement efforts, the Park City Police Department added six additional officers. Beyond arrests for impaired driving, they issued 36 seat belt citations, three speeding tickets, one distracted driving citation, and 23 other traffic-related citations.

Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System shows that in 2020 alone, 11,654 people died in crashes involving alcohol-impaired drivers. On average, more than 10,000 fatalities occurred annually from 2016 to 2020 due to such incidents. In 2020 specifically, an alcohol-related crash claimed a life every 45 minutes.

The holiday enforcement campaign was administered by IDOT using federal highway safety funds managed by NHTSA.

Information from this article can be found here.