“You Drink & Drive. You Lose.” is the message of the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety. The statewide campaign will begin August 16 with an advertising campaign and will be supported with increased enforcement of Missouri’s impaired driving laws. Increased enforcement begins August 18 and runs through September 4, including the Labor Day holiday.
“Our message is simple. No matter what you drive – a passenger car, pickup truck, sport utility vehicle or motorcycle – if we catch you driving impaired, we will arrest you,” said Colonel Roger Stottlemyre, superintendent of the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
Last year in Missouri there were 7,888 alcohol-related traffic crashes. In 2005 there were 1,100 underage drivers involved in alcohol-related traffic crashes in Missouri. National estimates show that more than 16,000 people were killed and 248,000 were injured in alcohol-related crashes in 2004.