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Starting today, law enforcement in Flagler County is cracking down on drunk driving by increasing their efforts to find and arrest impaired drivers.

 

The county’s effort is a part of a nationwide “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign to quash drunk driving and make the roads safer. The campaign lasts until Sept. 3.

 

“Anyone who is impaired and gets behind the wheel of a vehicle is acting irresponsibly and without concern for the lives and property of others,” Flagler County Sheriff Donald Fleming said in a statement. “Those are the people we want to take off our streets.”

 

In 2010, more than 10,000 people died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. That’s roughly one person every 51 minutes.

 

Across the nation, law enforcement makes 161 DUI arrests every hour, the NHTSA reports.

 

“These statistics are alarming,” Fleming said. “It is the goal of every law enforcement agency to eliminate these dangerous drivers from the road.”

 

Nearly half of all driving fatalities in which alcohol impairment is involved occur between 9 p.m. and 3 p.m., according to the NHTSA.

 

“Look out for us on the roads, especially at these times,” Fleming said.