The Columbia Police Department and Boone County Sheriff’s Department are participating in a statewide initiative to prevent drinking and driving during the holidays.
The two departments are always enforcing DWI laws, but the increased presence comes as people are celebrating the holidays.
“Unfortunately, crashes caused by drunk drivers tend to go up during this time,” Boone Country Traffic Sgt. Brian Leer said. “We’re just doing what we can to prevent folks from driving impaired.”
According to a sheriff’s department news release, impaired drivers cause nearly 30 percent of all Missouri traffic fatalities. That amounted to 240 deaths in 2010 and an additional 962 serious injuries.
During the holidays, that number spikes significantly. According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, drunk drivers cause 52 percent of fatal collisions on Christmas and 57 percent on New Year’s Eve.
The increased enforcement efforts will include saturation patrols as well as DWI checkpoints from Dec. 5 to Dec. 12.
CPD Traffic Sgt. Curtis Perkins said the department has plans to focus especially on the weekend.
Officers will be concentrated in areas known to have high numbers of impaired drivers. Leer said the sheriff’s department keeps day-to-day statistics on where arrests are made for impaired drivers. They will use the data to decide which areas to concentrate on each day.
Deputies from the sheriff’s department will work overtime to staff the patrols. Leer said each deputy assigned will work a four-hour shift from the evening until the early morning.
Both agencies are working separately as part of Missouri’s holiday campaign funded by Missouri’s Safety Center and Department of Transportation.
“If the opportunity to help each other comes up, we will,” Leer said. “But there’s no big cooperative details.”
Sergeants from both departments said they aren’t trying to crush the holiday spirit — they just want to save lives.
“We don’t want people to stop going out and having fun,” Perkins said. “We just want them to do it responsibly and make the right plans.”
