• 02
  • September
    2011

The Labor Day weekend offers a chance to savor the summer before the school year begins. But it's also one of the riskiest times to be on the road. The danger of drunk driving accidents is substantial.

How dangerous do the roads get on this long weekend? Data from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit group supported by the insurance industry, puts September 2 as second behind only July 4 for motor vehicle deaths in a single day.

The U.S. Department of Transportation is trying to help Wisconsin and other states make driving safer on the Labor Day weekend by operating a nationwide program called Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over." The goal is simple: to get drunk drivers off the road and therefore prevent car accidents.

The program began on August 19 and runs through September 5. It involves over 10,000 law enforcement agencies around the country. The Department of Transportation is partnering with these agencies on an advertising campaign intended to deter drunk drivers by making them more aware of the possibility of arrest.

Ray LaHood, the U.S. transportation secretary, is vocal about his department's commitment to bringing down the number of drunk driving accidents. Though the number of deaths has come down somewhat in recent years, "drunk driving remains one of the leading causes of death and injury on America's roads, LaHood noted.

Almost 11,000 are people every year in vehicle crashes in which alcohol is involved. The hours between midnight and 3 am are a particularly risky time for these fatal accidents, according to federal data.

Maybe drunk drivers think their chances of getting away with it increase in the hours before dawn. But the ad campaign seeks to make the point that these drivers can be busted at any time.

Source: "Labor Day Weekend Warning: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over," Forbes, 8-31-11