FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 23, 2002
CONTACT: SID GAULDEN, 803-896-8755

COLUMBIA -- The South Carolina Department of Public Safety reminds motorists that state and local law enforcement have partnered with regional law enforcement for a tough, concentrated approach to taking drunken drivers off the roads this holiday season with increased patrols and public safety checkpoints.

DPS joined local partners last week to begin a statewide drunken driving campaign called Operation SOS: Sober or Slammer in response to the increasing problem of drunken driving collisions in South Carolina. DPS and other state law enforcement began saturation patrols and public safety checkpoints last Friday night, which will run through Jan. 5. The state also is joining its regional partners for “You Drink and Drive. You Lose.”

“Drivers can be assured that if they choose to drink and drive anywhere in the Southeast this holiday season, law enforcement won’t be far behind,” said DPS Director B. Boykin Rose. “Whether to consume alcohol is a personal choice, but whether to drive afterward isn’t.”

While the Thanksgiving holiday is more of a travel holiday than Christmas, the problem of drinking and driving worsens during the month of December until New Year’s. The official tracking period this year for holiday fatalities will run from 6 p.m. Christmas Eve until midnight Christmas day. The last time Christmas fell on a Wednesday was in 1996, when three people were killed over the 30-hour tracking period. There were 12 fatalities last Christmas during a 102-hour recording period. (Please see the Fasten For Life web site for more information http://www.fastenforlife.com/christmas_tf.htm).

South Carolina topped the 1,000 mark for fatalities this weekend for the fifth straight year. Nine motorists were killed this weekend, including an 8-year-old unbuckled passenger. Alcohol was a factor in several of the fatal collisions this weekend.

“Our hope was that fatalities would not top 1,000 this year,” said Highway Patrol Col. Mike Kelley. “We believe extra enforcement and public information campaigns have had a tangible effect on reducing those fatality numbers from 2001. But the fact that we’ve lost another 1,000 people on our highways says we have a long way to go toward changing driving behavior in this state.”

*** Please visit the Operation SOS: Sober or Slammer web site at www.soberorslammer.com

or from the DPS site at www.scdps.org and the Fasten For Life web site at www.fastenforlife.com.

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