Patrols will increase ahead of and after the Labor Day holiday in an attempt to crack down on drunk driving.
READ MORE: NHCSO responds to complaints over hours-long wait at CB checkpoint
The campaign North Carolina Governor’s Highway Safety program Booze It and Lose It will be in effect statewide from Aug. 28 through Sept. 10. This means there will be heavier law enforcement presence on the road, including checkpoints to prevent fatal accidents cause by impaired driving.
According to the North Carolina Department of Transportation, it’s the leading cause deaths in North Carolina vehicle crashes, as well as nationwide. More than 9,000 lives have been lost in alcohol-related crashes statewide since Booze It and Lose it started in 1994.
According to the highway safety program, in 2021 — the most recent data available on its website — there were 156 checkpoints put up in the tri-county region during BILI campaigns: 22 in Brunswick, 24 in New Hanover, and 110 in Pender.
“Motorists caught driving while impaired could face jail time, lose their driving privileges and pay an average of $10,000 in fines, towing fees and other expenses associated with a DWI.”
Last Labor Day, local agencies that set up a checkpoint at Greenfield and Third streets doled out 101 citations, of which eight were DWIs.
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