Drunk Driving Shatters Lives: Statewide Crackdown on Drunk Driving Begins Today.

Today, the Michigan State Police along with 150 other police agencies begin acrackdown on drunk driving that will extend through April 4th.  The effort is coordinated by the Office of Highway Safety Planning and is supported by federal traffic safety funds.

Drunk Driving Shatters Lives.

My friend, Michael Mayes, lost two sisters, Shannon and Heather, in 2000. Yesterday, during a press conference at the Michigan State Police Tri-City Post in Williams Township, Mike’s dad, Ron Mayes shared the gut wrenching details of how he first learned he lost his daughters.

I can’t help but tear up reading the article.  The Mayes’ family will never be the same because of the senseless decision of a 20 year-old to drive drunk.  My prayers are always with the Mayes’ family.

 

Statistics From Past Drunk Driving Enforcement Matters.

Some staggering statistics on drunken driving in Michigan provided by the OHSP:

• During the same grant-enforcement period in 2015, extra police patrolsarrested 538 drunken drivers. Of those, 78 were charged under the state’s “super drunk” law, of having a blood alcohol level of 0.17 or higher. In Michigan, a person is legally intoxicated when their blood alcohol level is at 0.08 or higher.
• Throughout the state in that same period in 2015, police arrested a total of 2,182 drunken drivers. Of those, 672 were charged with being super drunk.
• In all of 2014, police arrested 35,060 intoxicated and impaired motorists, or 96 per day.
• Also in 2014, 319 people were killed as a result of alcohol- and/or drug-involved traffic crashes, a 9 percent increase from 2013.

Michigan State Police cited St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, the onset of spring, spring breaks, and the NCAA basketball tournaments as being likely contributors to this uptick.

 

New Proposed Michigan laws to combat driving under the influence.

A Bill has been passed by the Senate that would authorize the Michigan Department of State Police (MSP) to establish a one-year pilot program in five counties for roadside drug testing to determine whether an individual was operating a vehicle while under the influence of a controlled substance.

You can check out the status of that bill here.

 

e-mail: Jeshua@dwlawpc.com

Twitter: @JeshuaTLauka