Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest.

2009 Labor Day Crackdown Activities

August 21 - September 7

Drunk driving remains one of America’s deadliest crimes. In 2008, NHTSA estimates that 11,773 people died in highway crashes involving a driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher.

This is why GHSA Members have joined forces with law enforcement officers across the country to take part in the Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest crackdown on impaired driving during the Labor Day holiday period. State-specific crackdown efforts are listed below. Drunk driving laws and additional resources are available on the GHSA Drunk Driving Laws page. For information on the national campaign, read GHSA's news release or visit www.stopimpaireddriving.org.

• Alabama—Alabama will be participating in the 2009 nationwide Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest crackdown by conducting various law enforcement events, providing press releases and public service announcements for newspaper, radio and television coverage as well as hosting Hands Across the Border events with neighboring states. Law enforcement efforts will include local police departments, county sheriff’s offices and the Alabama State Troopers.
  
  
• Alaska—The newly created Bureau of Highway Patrol and 20 local law enforcement agencies are conducting saturation patrols on over 80 percent of Alaska’s roads during the Labor Day crackdown. Multi-jurisdictional teams cruising through new territory continues to be popular with the patrol officers. Fairbanks PD plans to stage 1-2 officers in unmarked vehicles and work with uniformed personnel to apprehend impaired drivers leaving the bars. In addition to the paid targeted media campaign, statewide press releases and local radio spots have been planned by the Alaska Highway Safety Office and the Kenai Police Department.
  
  
• Arizona—Arizona Governor's Representative and Governor Jan Brewer’s Highway Safety Director Alberto Gutier will attend the Southern Arizona DUI Task Force deployment and news conference in Tucson on September 4, where more than 50 officers from eight agencies and Department of Public Safety (DPS) will be conducting high visibility enforcement using checkpoints and saturation patrols. In Phoenix, the East Valley and West Valley DUI Task Forces, consisting of 18 agencies plus the AZ DPS, will conduct saturation patrols throughout the weekend and a checkpoint on September 4 and 5 for traffic coming out of Lake Pleasant and Saguaro Lake into the Phoenix Metro area. Additionally, Task Forces in the Prescott, Flagstaff, and the White Mountains as well as Cochise, Coconino and Gila Counties will conduct saturation patrols. The Statewide Arizona DUI Task Force chaired by Director Gutier consists of 46 law enforcement agencies, including eight DPS Districts and varied agencies that also include the Gila River, Ft. McDowell and Salt River-Pima Maricopa Indian Communities Police Departments. The statewide media has been alerted as usual and will cover the deployments. As is customary in Arizona's four media markets, every TV station will publish daily stats on stops, arrests and BAC levels. This practice goes back for almost 13 years and was started by GOHS Director Gutier.
  
  
• Arkansas—The Arkansas State Police Highway Safety Office is partnering with Mothers Against Drunk Driving to kick off the Labor Day holiday Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest mobilization at a media event in Little Rock on August 18. More than 120 municipal law enforcement agencies, 26 county sheriffs departments, the Arkansas Highway Police and the Arkansas State Police will be especially vigilant during this time looking for impaired drivers. The mobilization will be accompanied by approximately $275,000 in paid ads for broadcast and cable television, radio and online, with extra added value donated by the media. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is supporting the effort by displaying the DDOLUA message statewide on highway variable message boards.
  
  
• California—California’s 41 Avoid DUI Taskforces, as well as 111 individual local jurisdictions, will be mounting special enforcement mobilizations from August 21 through September 7, with extra checkpoints and saturation patrols covering 98 percent of the state’s population. Each of the 41 separate Avoid regions will also be pushing press releases and media events. The California Office of Traffic Safety will be using newly released positive DUI fatality figures to help promote the Crackdown in statewide press releases.
  
  
• Connecticut—Connecticut has 99 individual municipalities/resident trooper towns with DUI enforcement projects. Using Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest funding, 47 DUI checkpoints are planned throughout the Labor Day enforcement period. In addition to these checkpoints, law enforcement officials will be conducting numerous DUI saturation patrols. Eight comprehensive public outreach events (on belts, safety seats, drunk driving and motorcycle safety) are also scheduled throughout August. The Department of Transportation's Law Enforcement Liaison is conducting site visits to municipal and state law enforcement agencies to reinforce the importance of year round, sustained enforcement. Throughout the crackdown period, twenty-three variable message boards will be operating on interstates and major state routes displaying the message Over the Limit. Under Arrest.
  
  
• Colorado—The Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and statewide law enforcement agencies will kick off the national DUI mobilization with a media tour beginning August 20. The Colorado Rockies baseball club and CDOT will hold a news conference to begin the crackdown. The Pike’s Peak Region (Colorado Springs area) DUI Task Force and CDOT are hosting a press event with the focus on impaired motorcycle riding prevention and enforcement. Colorado State Parks will be involved to promote enforcement on roadways and waterways in Colorado. More than 65 Colorado law enforcement agencies will be participating in saturation, increased patrols and multi-jurisdictional checkpoints throughout the crackdown period. CDOT and Denver Police will partner on a intensified enforcement project during the crackdown and are dedicating a sobriety checkpoint to a Denver Police Officer that was killed by a drunk driver. There will also be enforcement activities around the Colorado State Fair, which occurs in Pueblo during the crackdown.
  
  
• Delaware—Delaware has scheduled 13 checkpoints and 72 saturation patrols during the crackdown period. In all, 32 State and local police agencies, representing most of Delaware's law enforcement community, are participating. The Office of Highway Safety (OHS) is increasing its paid public awareness messages, using a combination of billboards, radio (English and Spanish) and print ads, as well as Internet, transit, and indoor advertising. Informational materials will be distributed to the corporate community. OHS is also partnering with six popular bars in Delaware’s resort town of Dewey Beach to promote the HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers. The bars will display HERO materials such as coasters, posters, table tents, banners and window clings. Servers in some establishments will sport buttons encouraging patrons to ask how designated drivers can get free soft drinks, and designated drivers will be identified by special wristbands thanking them for being a HERO. The National Crackdown is running in conjunction with Delaware's Checkpoint Strikeforce campaign–a six-month long regional sobriety checkpoint initiative aimed at arresting impaired drivers, which will last through New Year's Eve.
  
  
• Florida—Law enforcement agencies in Florida are stepping up enforcement through checkpoints and saturation patrols. Agencies are conducting local press events, capitalizing on the earned media in local markets across the state. Law enforcement agencies will participate in the 18th annual Hands Across the Border (HATB) with the neighboring states of Alabama and Georgia. Press events are being held across north Florida in conjunction with HATB. The Law Enforcement Liaisons (LELs) are conducting area network meetings and distributed public information and education materials to law enforcement agencies throughout the state. Traffic Safety Office staff and members of the LEL team are also working with the Florida Association of Chiefs of Police and the Florida Sheriffs Association to plan the crackdown.
  
  
• Georgia—The Georgia Governor’s Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) will launch its Labor Day Operation Zero Tolerance (OZT) campaign with a kickoff news conference on August 28. Regional traffic enforcement networks will conduct sobriety checkpoints, concentrated patrols and impaired driving campaign media events around the state to announce the OZT holiday travel period initiative. During the more than two week long enforcement campaign, Georgia law enforcement will also line up at State Welcome Centers to greet motorists as part of the 18th annual Hands Across the Border highway safety awareness campaign. Georgia police will join partners from five border states to crack down on impaired driving and send the message that safe driving doesn't stop at the state line. For more information, visit www.gahighwaysafety.org.
  
  
• Guam—The Guam Police Department's Highway Patrol Division and Guam Airport Police Division's are stepping up their enforcement activities for the upcoming Labor Day holiday.
  
  
• Hawaii—Hawaii's four county police departments are conducting high visibility enforcement throughout the crackdown. In addition to the national campaign, the Hawaii Department of Transportation has implemented a “52/12” enforcement program by increasing the frequency of sobriety checkpoints to a minimum of 52 sobriety checkpoints per year in each county. Each county police department determines the dates and locations based on their own traffic crash data. Hawaii is spending approximately $200,000 on a statewide media buy during 2009. These spots will be aired during the national Labor Day crackdown and from Thanksgiving Day weekend through January 2, 2010.
  
  
• Idaho—Forty agencies are signed up to perform overtime emphasis patrols from August 24 through Labor Day weekend. Idaho has produced in-house video and radio PSAs that will air from August 17 through September 13. In addition, billboards will be up statewide with the Over The Limit. Under Arrest message.
  
  
• Illinois—Illinois’ 2009 You Drink & Drive. You Lose. Labor Day crackdown effort will focus on the overwhelming number of alcohol-involved and unrestrained fatalities that occur during late-night and early-morning hours. Nighttime news events are being scheduled, with over 300 state and local law enforcement agencies conducting impaired driving and late night/early-morning belt enforcement details, including over 200 roadside safety checks. In addition, a statewide media buy featuring radio, cable and broadcast TV, online, out-of-home and Internet advertisements will remind motorists that if you’re caught driving impaired or unbuckled at night, you will be arrested and/or ticketed.
  
  
• Indiana—Members of the Indiana DUI Task Force are holding sobriety checkpoints on August 20 and coordinating with the media. Local, county and State Police agencies will be conducting the checkpoints and will be available to provide interviews for the media. During the weekend of August 27 - 31, the Traffic Safety Division is partnering with the Indianapolis MotoGP (the premier class of GP motorcycle racing). The Division is setting up media events with 2006 MotoGP Champion Nicky Hayden to promote an anti-impaired riding message for motorcycle riders. Nicky has produced television, radio and billboard advertisements which will be used to promote safe and sober riding. Indianapolis expects tens of thousands of additional motorcycle riders in town for the MotoGP Race, which occurs during the middle of the crackdown.
  
  
• Iowa—Iowa will be airing paid media, including PSAs. A sTEP (Special Traffic Enforcement Program) wave will be running from August 21 - September 3, and the Iowa State Patrol CARE (Combined Accident Reduction Effort) project gets underway September 4 - 7. Additionally, a statewide corridor enforcement project (child passenger safety and seat belt project) takes place September 17. The Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau (GTSB) encourages all 289 contract agencies to use GTSB funds to work overtime for both national and sate enforcement projects through the year. In June, the Iowa State Patrol piloted a new GTSB-funded project call Safe Saturdays. Because of its huge success, the program will be continued throughout the year--the Iowa State Patrol are expected to target the 22 worst counties in Iowa for alcohol related serious injury and fatalities crashes.
  
  
• Kansas—The Kansas Traffic Safety Section will kick off the crackdown with a media event on August 20. It will be held in Wichita, the largest city in the state, and will include the Sedgwick County Sheriff, a District Judge (who was a legislator until he was elected to the bench last year), and the state's Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor. The media event will be staged at the county jail, and will take the media through the intake process for someone arrested for a DUI. Kansas will spend about $115,000 in paid media, including TV, radio and online ads, which will feature some impaired motorcycle riding ads. Kansas is also funding overtime enforcement for more than100 local law enforcement agencies and the Kansas Highway Patrol during the crackdown period.
  
  
• Kentucky—The Kentucky Office of Highway Safety is hosting a press conference in each of the two major media markets (August 14 and 20), with smaller press conferences to be held August 17-19 in six other cities to extend the reach to the whole state. Television and radio spots will run throughout the campaign in conjunction with earned media opportunities, and yard signs with the campaign logo will be placed in various locations throughout the state. Funds have also been provided for state and local overtime enforcement.
  
  
• Louisiana—The Louisiana Highway Safety Commission (LHSC) supports law enforcement agencies throughout Louisiana to increase saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints during the National Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest campaign. The LHSC promotes the use of overtime in conjunction with a paid and earned media effort, providing a comprehensive program aimed at reducing impaired driving. Louisiana has recently strengthened impaired driving related laws that will further assist law enforcement and prosecutors in tackling the pervasive problem of impaired driving.
  
  
• Maine—The Maine Bureau of Highway Safety has partnered with more than 50 Maine law enforcement agencies, including 10 county Sheriffs departments and the Maine State Police to conduct OUI patrols and roadblocks for the entire spring and summer of 2009. Departments are especially focusing on the two weeks of the national Labor Day crackdown campaign. All participating agencies will conduct details or roadblocks during hours determined by them to be most productive for enforcement. Police are also working with their local media outlets to alert the public.
  
  
• Maryland—The Maryland Highway Safety Office (MHSO) will conduct its annual impaired driving campaign, Checkpoint Strikeforce, as part of a larger regional effort to coincide with the national crackdown. The elements of the campaign include: mass media (paid and earned), and increased, coordinated and highly visible enforcement from August 19 through September 7. As part of a statewide launch, several regions and local county law enforcement agencies will be conducting sobriety checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols on September 3, just in time for the Labor Day weekend. Two major press events are planned. In addition,15 State Police Barracks will each be conducting two checkpoints during the two week mobilization.
  
  
• Massachusetts—The Executive Office of Public Safety and Security's Highway Safety Division has provided grants to the State Police and more than 245 local and campus police departments to conduct additional saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints. Most checkpoints will utilize the State Police's two Breath Alcohol Testing (BAT) Mobiles. A press event, tentatively scheduled for September 3, will spotlight the extra enforcement, which will be complemented by a statewide public information campaign involving: radio ads (in Spanish and English); posters in sports venues, bars, and restaurants; partnerships and events at local sporting events; aerial banners; and variable message boards. Banners, literature, and a sample news release are being distributed to help law enforcement conduct local earned media and community outreach. For more information, visit www.mass.gov/highwaysafety.
  
  
• Michigan—Fifty-five counties will conduct impaired driving enforcement between August 21 and September 7. Nearly $650,000 in federal traffic safety funds will support these additional drunk driving patrols. In addition, a new TV and radio campaign dubbed keg and chain will be launched statewide to ensure widespread awareness of this effort (www.youtube.com/ohsp). Two news events are planned to launch the program, highlighting local drunk driving crashes and victims.
  
  
• Minnesota—Minnesota is planning enhanced enforcement, as well as paid and earned media during the Labor Day crackdown. Enforcement liaisons are working on setting up regional news conferences, and a kickoff is planned for the metro area. A news conference is scheduled for August 20. Regional/local news events will be coordinated by local agencies. The Minnesota state highway safety office is distributing statewide Over the Limit bar coasters, window clings and Designated Driver Action Figure boxes, while also providing ID stamps through an association of bars/clubs (venues will stamp the DWI safety message on bar patrons when checking IDs). The paid media component includes Facebook/MySpace ads and 60 radio interviews in drive-time on target-delivering stations; stations will provide DWI enforcement-themed text bounce-back messages when listeners text in during the campaign. A kit of materials, with information specific to Minnesota’s 87 counties, is available online at www.dps.state.mn.us/ots/enforcement_programs/LaborDay2009/default.asp
  
  
• Mississippi—A press conference is scheduled for August 20 at the Department of Public Safety to kick off the campaign. The Mississippi Governors Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) sent LEAKs (Law Enforcement Action Kits) to enforcement agencies and schools for implementation in their communities. Local law enforcement agencies are asked to publicize the Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest message at the schools, in local newspapers, and on TV and radio spots. Paid Media will include TV and radio stations statewide. GOHS will host the Mississippi Association of Highway Safety Leaders (MAHSL) in Jackson on August 21, giving attendees LEAK kits to take back for distribution. Nine Law Enforcement Liaison Traffic Enforcement Network Meetings will be held throughout August to further publicize the message and encourage traffic enforcement officers to work vigorously on enforcement. After the campaign, participating agencies will submit to the GOHS a completed blitz report documenting all enforcement and earned media activities. Data will then be compiled and sent to NHTSA through an online reporting system.
  
  
• Missouri—Missouri's annual You Drink & Drive, YOU LOSE. campaign kicks off August 19 with a press conference to unveil a new roadside memorial sign for impaired driving victims. Representatives from state and local law enforcement, the Highway Safety Office, MADD, and victim advocates will be present. The Missouri State Highway Patrol, all of Missouri's 114 County Sheriff's Offices and over 130 municipal law enforcement agencies will receive grants to fund officer overtime to conduct DWI enforcement activities. Paid media will run August 17 - September 5, using the Mugshot television spot. The spot begins with scenes of a beer mug and shot glass and ends with an impaired driver's police station mug shot.  All creative materials as well as impaired driving statistics can be found at www.saveMOlives.com.
  
  
• Montana—The Montana Department of Transportation's State Highway Traffic Safety Bureau has provided funding to the State Police and more than 62 local and campus police departments to conduct additional saturation patrols during the Labor Day campaign. The State Highway Patrol will be conducting two Safety Spot Checks in two urban area districts. The Highway Patrol's Mobile Impaired Driving Assessment Center will be at the Dillon Rodeo and Fair over Labor Day weekend. The press will spotlight the extra enforcement, which will complement a statewide public information campaign involving radio and TV ads and earned media ads through the major newspapers. A testimonial of a young man who was sentenced for vehicular manslaughter for death of a co-worker due to drinking and driving will be aired on Montana TV and radio stations. The focus of this testimonial is on the family of the young man who is serving time, and what the crash has done to his wife and children's lives.
  
  
• Nebraska—Nebraska will add 12,000 hours of enforcement, including sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, special underage drinking enforcements and educational events. Five 30-second commercial announcements will air in Sports Nightly the week prior to the game. The first University of Nebraska's home football game day on September 5 is designated as Traffic Safety Day by the Husker Sports Network. Pre-game activities will include Fatal Vision goggle demonstrations, voluntary preliminary breath testing for fans and a Highway Safety booth display.
  
  
• Nevada—Nevada will have 28 law enforcement agencies, covering more than 95 percent of the population, conducting check points and saturation patrols. Approximately $150,000 in overtime funding from the Office of Traffic Safety and $125,000 in paid advertising (TV and radio) will enhance the national ad campaign. There will be press conferences in both Las Vegas and Reno to kick off the DUI enforcement event.
  
  
• New Hampshire—New Hampshire will conduct statewide “DWI Hunter” patrols and sobriety checkpoints on August 21 & 22. These will involve the NH State Police, 64 local, and 4 county law enforcement agencies. During the NHTSA mobilization period, state, county and local enforcement agencies will also conduct overtime DWI patrols and checkpoints funded by the NH Highway Safety Agency.
  
  
• New Jersey—A news release will announce the start of the Over the Limit. Under Arrest crackdown. The release will be distributed to all daily and weekly newspapers, web-based media outlets, and radio and television stations across the state. Broadcast media in the Philadelphia and New York City area will also be contacted. At the conclusion of the program, a news release will be issued announcing the results of the crackdown. In addition, when police departments receive their grant packages for the program, a sample news release with recent DWI statistics and other relevant information is included. Police departments are encouraged to distribute this release to local media in and around their municipalities for additional coverage of the crackdown.
  
  
• New Mexico—Approximately 100 law enforcement agencies from across the state will be conducting sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, nighttime seatbelt enforcement, occupant protection enforcement and other activities aimed at reducing vehicle fatalities and alcohol-related fatalities. A press event, featuring NHTSA's Brian McLaughlin, will take place at the 2nd annual Traffic Safety Summit. Paid and earned media in the statewide, Albuquerque and El Paso markets will tout the message You Drink, You Drive, You Lose. The crackdown takes place during the third year of the successful 100 Days and Nights of Summer traffic safety campaign, a combined law enforcement effort focusing on DWI, aggressive driving, speeding, occupant protection and other traffic violations to help reduce death and injury on New Mexico's roadways during high travel months. Law enforcement participating includes 12 New Mexico State Police Districts, the New Mexico Motor Transportation Department, 24 Sheriffs Departments, 55 city police, nine tribal agencies, and university police. In addition, the Department of Public Safety, Special Investigations Division will be hosting compliance checks and undercover stings targeting sales to intoxicated persons and to minors.
  
  
• New York—As part of New York's continuing efforts to combat impaired driving, more than 500 local law enforcement agencies and the State Police are conducting saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints throughout the state from August 21 through September 7, as part of the national Over the Limit. Under Arrest. campaign. The campaign is being supported by local STOP-DWI Association public awareness events and a kickoff press conference is being held in Nassau County announcing the crackdown. In addition to the press conference, a media event will be held, demonstrating the effects of alcohol after being “dosed” and tested, using Standardized Field Sobriety Tests, Preliminary Breath Tests, breath instruments, ignition interlocks, and a coned driving course.
  
  
• North Carolina—The North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program will mark the 15th anniversary of Booze It & Lose It with this year's Labor Day campaign. A celebration will take place in Raleigh with state and local law enforcement officers in attendance. Since 1994, North Carolina law enforcement agencies have issued more than 2,900,000 traffic and criminal citations, including 103,000 driving while impaired citations during Booze It & Lose It campaigns.
  
  
• North Dakota—North Dakota is conducting heightened overtime DUI enforcement throughout the state during the national crackdown. A new enforcement ad was developed, entitled We do it for you. The ad depicts North Dakota law enforcement officers citing the reasons they conduct DUI enforcement – to protect children, families and communities. The Traffic Safety Office, law enforcement officials and the North Dakota Safe Communities are collaborating to provide community-based earned media events that enhance the visibility of the enforcement efforts and promote community mobilization against drunk driving. Examples of local activities include: news conferences, television/radio talk show interviews, and newspaper editorials. In addition, local bars, restaurants, and retail establishments will display print materials. A digital media plan is being designed for Facebook, YouTube and MySpace, and electronic banners are being placed on TV and radio station websites.
  
  
• Northern Mariana Islands—The Northern Mariana Islands is kicking off the crackdown with a governor's proclamation. Authorities have developed enforcement schedules throughout this period to include sobriety checkpoints, highway criminal interdiction (HICI) saturation patrols, speed enforcement, and public education and presentations. The campaign will be integrated with the upcoming CPS campaign after September 7.
  
  
• Ohio—Ohio's activities involve more than 900 law enforcement agencies and local safety partners. Media events will be conducted by 30 Safe Community programs and 10 county-wide DUI Tasks Forces. Approximately 28 checkpoints are planned, along with more than 9,367 additional enforcement hours. The Ohio State Highway Patrol is planning at least three checkpoints around the state during this time period and will have a significant presence on state highways over the Labor Day weekend. The crackdown includes approximately $250,000 in paid media, and Ohio DOT was asked to post messages on their overhead message boards. In Columbus, the Franklin County DUI Task Force will be holding a mock-checkpoint, which will focus on impaired driving, highlighting the danger of impaired riding for motorcyclists. A local municipal court judge will hold a mock court session alongside the checkpoint to show that drunk driving has serious consequences. The state also is holding a media roundtable prior to the campaign kickoff to discuss checkpoints and reinforce the critical role media can play in publicizing checkpoints and enforcement efforts.
  
  
• Oklahoma—More than 150 law enforcement agencies are expected to support the impaired driving mobilization. The combined statewide effort will include both paid and earned media as well as the potential for agencies to receive an incentive award for participation. Kickoff press events have been scheduled in Oklahoma City and Tulsa using a local hospital and cemetery venues for enhanced media coverage. Agencies can obtain support materials and sign up to participate using an online electronic system through the Highway Safety Office website at www.ohso.ok.gov.
  
  
• Oregon—Oregon's law enforcement community and DUII partners plan intensified statewide multi-agency saturation patrols and earned media events for the August 21 through September 7 crackdown period. Leaders from law enforcement, legislators, state and local agency heads, and victim advocate groups will participate in televised interviews, wet labs, demonstrations of equipment, and discussion of recently passed DUII laws to heighten awareness of the crime and tragedies of impaired driving.
  
  
• Pennsylvania—Over 600 municipal police departments, every State Police troop, and numerous university/campus police departments are expected to participate in the upcoming national DUI crackdown. The earned media theme for the mobilization is underage drinking and underage drinking and driving. Each of PennDOT’s 11 District Safety Press Officers are organizing press conferences at colleges and high schools in their regions. Press releases promoting Pennsylvania’s anti-underage drinking websites Full Apologies and Pull a Youee are being created as well. Local DUI Task Forces are encouraged to make use of the Pennsylvania DUI Association’s simulator, safety bug, and moving memorial. These three items are great media focal points at press conferences and checkpoints.
  
  
• Rhode Island—The Rhode Island Office on Highway Safety (OHS) is hosting a press conference to kick off the crackdown on August 20. Rhode Island uses the slogan You drink and drive. You Lose (YDYDYL). The OHS is working with the state Police Chiefs Association to purchase variable message signs (VMW) for each police department that will be deployed for all OHS sponsored CIOT, YDYDYL and speed patrols throughout the year. These new signs will be making their debut at the kickoff press conference. The visual is more than 30 police vehicles hooked up to the VMS signs with YDYDYL enforcement messages on each board. Press conference speakers are still being finalized, but the OHS Director is confirmed to speak, drawing awareness to the new program and letting everyone know that the patrols are out there and it is unacceptable to drink and drive. The OHS will be running enforcement media messages from August 16 through September 7, and overtime enforcement patrols will be conducted from August 21 through September 7. Media will include radio, television, web and bus signs. Also, all state owned VMS signs will carry an enforcement message during the campaign, wherever possible.
  
  
• South Carolina—South Carolina's campaign, Sober or Slammer!, combines paid/earned media and law enforcement. The SC Department of Public Safety is investing about $1,000,000 in paid media, including: radio spots running in the 17 counties which show the greatest number of problems with DUI issues; billboards depicting victims of DUI drivers; movie theater advertising; and seven 30-second television commercials, four of which are updated commercial spots in the most successful ad campaign series the State has ever produced, “Highways or Dieways?” Enforcement will run August 21 – September 7, with state and local law enforcement agencies conducting public safety checkpoints and saturation patrols. Local law enforcement participation is at an all-time high, at more than 220 agencies. Law enforcement are also utilizing citation holders that give motorists who receive citations or warnings information about DUI victims in South Carolina. SCDOT’s variable message boards will feature “Statewide DUI Crackdown in Progress” messages during campaign weekends. A press event with local and state law enforcement participation will launch the campaign on August 20, in Columbia, featuring a staged DUI checkpoint with an arrest for DUI and processing of the offender in one of the state’s Breath Alcohol Testing (BAT) mobile units.
  
  
• South Dakota—The South Dakota Office of Highway Safety is partnering with large employers across the state to give anti-drinking and driving statement stuffers to all their employees.
  
  
• Tennessee—The Tennessee GHSO will be running two new PSA's — Drive Drunk Get Nailed and We'll Be Every Where — on both TV and radio. In partnership with Tennessee MADD, a Labor Day Crackdown press event will be held during the 22nd annual Tennessee Lifesavers Conference at the Music City Sheraton on August 27. Also, the Tennessee Department of Safety will issue a Labor Day press release.
  
  
• Texas—Texas is gearing up for the 2009 impaired driving mobilization. The campaign message is “Drink. Drive. Go to Jail.” The statewide press event to announce the mobilization will be held in Austin on August 20. Production on the website, web banners, outdoor and alternative media materials is underway. New artwork will be used with the campaign this year. The artwork features a picture of a car (front half is a police car and the back half is a cab). The message on the artwork is Choose Your Ride. TxDOT’s new alternative media/outreach efforts will take place in the entertainment districts of Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. Efforts include window clings placed on driver’s side windows and street posters near bars and clubs in entertainment districts. Decals will also be placed on bathroom mirrors and doors of bars, clubs and convenience stores with the help of the Texas Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. Texas has 510 agencies signed up so far to participate in the upcoming mobilization. An incentive award program will also be conducted for non-grant funded agencies participating in the mobilization.
  
  
• Utah—Utah's participation in the Labor Day mobilization will include radio and billboards designed to resonate with the primary target audience: 21- to 34-year-olds (skewed towards males). A press event will complement the paid media with an earned media component. The radio campaign uses an innovative concept to generate conversation among the target group, and it is anticipated this may become a "viral" campaign. The billboard ads have unique creative content intended to generate conversation among this group. The press event will be used to inform the public of the saturation period, including checkpoints and widespread overtime DUI patrols with a special focus by the Multi-Agency Task Forces on the more urban counties.
  
  
• Vermont—Vermont's mobilization begins on August 21 and runs through September 7. This is the first year that the Vermont Governor's Highway Safety Program (GHSP) is using the Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest theme. Beginning August 14, Vermont will be running a PSA that was originally taped last year using the You Drink and Drive, You Lose logo but has been modified to incorporate the new slogan. Throughout the campaign, media are invited to do periodic ride-alongs in the cruisers in Bennington, Brattleboro and the greater Burlington area. Also, the Agency of Transportation has been asked to display the crackdown message on variable message boards. In terms of enforcement, agencies are asked to use their alcohol enforcement (DUI) grant money during this campaign. To encourage full participation, GHSP offers rewards, in the form of police equipment, to all agencies that successfully complete a minimum of 32 hours of directed DUI enforcement and participate in at least one DUI checkpoint.
  
  
• Virgin Islands—The Virgin Islands Office of Highway Safety, in conjunction with the Virgin Islands Police Department (VIPD), will be participating in the national mobilization. This will include daytime and nighttime checkpoints, which begin on August 21 and end on September 7. The office has already received earned media by displaying the Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest message on local government check stubs and on the Water and Power Authority payment stubs. Further, there will be a kickoff press conference on August 18 to announce the enforcement and patrol initiatives, along with press releases and letters to the editors. This earned media will continue throughout the duration of the National Crackdown. Paid media run August 21 – September 7 and will include 30-second radio spots and a display of banners at different locations throughout the Virgin Islands.
  
  
• Virginia—Virginia will once again be actively participating in the NHTSA Region 3 partnership, Checkpoint Strikeforce. With massive checkpoints and saturation patrols being held in every state in the Region, impaired drivers will be put on notice that they will be caught and they will be arrested. The Commonwealth will also continue the HERO Campaign for Designated Drivers as part of Checkpoint Strikeforce, urging people to decide ahead of time who will Be A HERO, Be A Designated Driver. Virginia will continue its annual Border to Border checkpoints on September 3. Virginia, in partnership with North Carolina, West Virginia, Maryland, and Tennessee will hold concurrent checkpoints to begin the Labor Day travel weekend, reminding motorists that no matter where they travel, law enforcement will be on the lookout for impaired drivers, speeders and unbuckled occupants.
  
  
• Washington—Washington Traffic Safety Commission has launched a $400,000 campaign to support the national Labor Day crackdown. The campaign includes: highly visible saturation patrols conducted by more than 100 law enforcement agencies; a $200,000 TV media campaign targeting young male drivers; and an earned media campaign focusing on local Drug Recognition Experts and the effects of illegal, prescription, and over-the-counter drugs on driving.
  
  
• West Virginia—The West Virginia Governor's Highway Safety Office, along with the West Virginia Commission on Drunk Driving Prevention (CDDP), the West Virginia State Police and local Law Enforcement Partners are aggressively promoting the national campaign. Law enforcement agencies throughout the state will participate in saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints. This year, West Virginia also plans on focusing on underage consumption by targeting points of sale
  
  
• Wisconsin—Officers from hundreds of law enforcement agencies will be patrolling in greater numbers and for longer hours to arrest drunken drivers during the mobilization. Law enforcement leaders also are participating in news conferences and media interviews to kickoff the crackdown. As part of its Zero In Wisconsin statewide media campaign, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation produced new television, radio, movie theater, and web advertisements, with a memorable and provocative message about the inherent dangers of impaired driving—including probable arrest. In addition, advertisements are being prominently displayed at racetracks and sports stadiums around the state. With Wisconsin’s recent adoption of primary safety belt enforcement, more than 85 agencies receiving Click It or Ticket funding agreed to intensify their safety belt enforcement efforts throughout the crackdown period, which will result in increased detection of impaired drivers during traffic stops.