FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 18, 2004

CONTACT: SID GAULDEN, 803-600-8119

 

HIGHWAY PATROL SECURES GRANT TO PAY FOR ENHANCED

DUI ENFORCEMENT STATEWIDE

 

COLUMBIA – The South Carolina Highway Patrol today began this week assigning troopers statewide to DUI enforcement detail under the terms of a $585,000 federal grant that will pay troopers to work strict DUI enforcement on their regularly scheduled days off.

 

“This grant is an innovative opportunity for us to use seasoned troopers in their own territory to concentrate solely on two of our most common highway killers – speed and impaired driving,” DPS Director James Schweitzer said.

 

The grant will draw from existing crash data to determine where DUI problem areas are in the state’s seven Troops. Troopers will then be assigned extra-duty shifts on regularly scheduled days off. These shifts will focus on periods that have historically reflected high numbers of speed and alcohol-related crashes.

 

The major causes of traffic fatalities in South Carolina during the last five years have been speed and alcohol-related violations. The two combined have caused 44 percent of fatal crashes and represent an 18 percent increase since 1988.

 

“Answering calls for service comprises most of a trooper’s shift,” said Highway Patrol Commander Col. Russell Roark. “This grant gives us the extra time and manpower we need to devote to DUI -- a problem that is claiming hundreds of lives on our roadways each year.”

 

Officials from each of the state’s seven Troop offices will use collision data from their area and focus on well-known hotspots for drunken driving. Troopers will use enforcement techniques such as saturation patrols during periods that statistically reflect high numbers of speed/alcohol-related crashes and fatalities.

 

The grant period runs until September 30, 2004, with a concentrated focus on the following periods: Memorial Day weekend; June 27-July 13 Sober or Slammer campaign period; July 4 weekend and Labor Day weekend.  

 

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