By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
The drunk drivers who get stopped and arrested by the police are the lucky ones.
They get to pay thousands of dollars in reinstatement fees.
They get to attend driver intervention classes.
And their record will dog them for years.
That’s what Aimee Coe, director of community programs for the Wood County ADAMHS board, said Wednesday at the kickoff for the 2021 Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over national mobilization.
Yes, those arrested are the lucky ones. They’re not dead, nor incarcerated for killing someone else.
They will, she said, “hopefully learn from their mistake.”
Coe served as the keynote speaker for the kick-off.
The event, attended by law enforcement officers from the State Highway Patrol and departments throughout the county, was meant “to highlight the tragedy of impaired driving,” Coe said.
Three people have died this year in the county this year because of impaired driving, she said. Many more were injured.
Sandy Wiechman, coordinator of Safe Communities of Wood County which hosts the event, reported an average of more than 10,000 people nationwide were killed in crashes involving an impaired driver from 2015 to 2019 with 10,142 dying in 2019.
“Each life lost sent a ripple effect throughout our community and creates emotional trauma and a lasting economic impact on those left behind,” Coe said.
“More work and awareness is needed to stop this needless tragedy.”
Many of these are caused by ongoing struggles with substance abuse and mental health. Help is available at treatment centers throughout the county.
“We are seeing an increase in deaths,” Coe said. “We do feel there has been an increase in substance abuse, but some people have been more reluctant to get into those services because of the pandemic.”
Wiechman noted that testing indicates marijuana is also increasingly a factor in fatal crashes. She said everyone needs to intervene to prevent impaired driving, even if that means taking away someone’s car keys.
There are many options from Lyft and Uber, taxis, or a designated driver. And if someone agrees to be a designated driver that means no consumption of alcohol. Not even one drink.
The kickoff is staged at this time, she said, because people celebrate as the summer comes to an end. Celebrate safely, she advised.
Law enforcement is launching several enforcement campaigns – Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over, If You Feel Different, You Drive Different, or Drive High Get a DUI. The bottom line to all these intensified efforts to get impaired drivers off the road.
These “will be conducted in a. fair and equitable way,” Wiechman said.
This enhanced enforcement continues through Sept. 6.
