State and local law enforcement participated in the Booze It & Lose It campaign last weekend. Between Oct. 28 and Oct. 31, the Halloween checkpoints and stepped up patrols resulted in 20,786 traffic and criminal citations across North Carolina. Wake County’s seven checkpoints and 23 added patrols issued 51 DWI citations this year.
This year, the campaign involved 1,664 sobriety checkpoints and additional (“dedicated”) patrols. Robeson and Catawba counties had the highest number of checkpoints, with 17 each. Durham County fielded the most dedicated patrols in the state, with 120.
As we have mentioned in past posts, the objective of the campaign is twofold. First, the heightened enforcement should discourage North Carolinians from driving while drunk. Second, the increase in checkpoints and patrols should get drunk drivers off the roads as quickly as possible.
Checkpoints are not devoted solely to DWI detection. Officers cite drivers for other traffic violations as well. Statewide, more than 1,300 citations were issued for seatbelt and child car seat violations.
Officers on patrols and at checkpoints also found 661 drug violations and 29 stolen vehicles. More than 300 fugitives were apprehended as well.
Speeding continues to be an issue, as well. Statewide, officers issued 5,575 speeding tickets, about 27 percent of all citations issued. In Wake County, the 416 speeding tickets accounted for 29 percent of the total.
Once again, Mecklenburg County outdid Wake County by logging the state’s highest number (58) of DWI citations. Robeson County netted 51 DWIs; Guilford County, 46.
Last year, the Halloween Booze It & Lose It campaign included 2,388 checkpoints and dedicated patrols. Across the state, officers issued 774 citations for DWI, with just 52 in Wake County.
Source: Governor’s Highway Safety Program, “Secretary Conti Announces “Booze It & Lose It” Halloween Campaign Nets 758 Dwi Arrests,” Nov. 4, 2011