Labor Day marks the unofficial end to summer and no matter how you plan to celebrate, make sure you plan it safely. This Labor Day weekend the Broken Bow Police Department will be participating in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over impaired driving awareness campaign, which runs from August 20 through September 6, 2021.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 10,142 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes in 2019 that involved an alcohol-impaired driver. On average, more than 10,000 people were killed each year from 2015 to 2019, and one person was killed in a drunk-driving crash every 52 minutes in 2019.
During the 2019 Labor Day holiday period (6 pm August 30 – 6 am September 3) there were 451 crash fatalities nationwide. Forty-five percent of these fatalities involved driver that had been drinking.
Broken Bow Police Chief Steve Scott said, “We want our community members to understand that it is our first priority to keep people safe, so we are asking everyone to plan ahead if they know they will be out drinking.”
