FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Every year, local law enforcement agencies step up their work when the holidays come around and communities start to see an increase in people driving while under the influence.
“It’s one of my most important jobs, you know, taking drunk drivers off the road, and keeping the public safe and helping reduce these crashes,” Wisconsin State Trooper Jamie Kahkola said.
“Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” was the message from the Wisconsin State Patrol from mid-December through New Years Day.
“It’s a saturation effort of extra officers specifically looking for that violation and looking for those drivers that are driving under the influence,” Kahkola said.
Kahkola tells FOX 11 the crackdown can add four or five hours to an officer’s regular shift.
“It tends to focus on New Year’s because that is, you know, a consistent problem. But, we also have the OWI task forces throughout the state, Brown County is a good example. Every agency comes together, we work one specific area one night, we had one on New Year’s Eve and one also this weekend, past week as well. They have seen an increase in crashes where alcohol and or drugs have increased during the pandemic.”
The Department of Transportation says about every three hours, someone is injured or killed by an alcohol related crash in Wisconsin.
“Nowadays there really isn’t much of an excuse. We have so many alternatives, we have Uber and Lyft and if you’re not going to designate a sober driver… we have a DOT app, drive sober app, that you can use. Tavern leagues have safe rides now,” Kahkola said.
In 2019, Wisconsin had 6,058 alcohol-related crashes, injuring 2,918 people and killing 140. There were also 23,803 OWI convictions.
Official numbers from 2020 are not in quite yet.
