Coming on the heels of targeted enforcement for distracted driving that saw New Canaan police issue more than a dozen tickets (including nine for cellphone use), police are planning to run a sobriety check point some time during the next two weeks, officials say.
In a press release issued to local media, New Canaan Police Sgt. Carol Ogrinc cited these statistics from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
- In 2010, 10,228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the U.S.
- Every day, almost 30 people in the U.S. die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 48 minutes.
- At all levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC), the risk of being involved in a crash is greater among young people than for older people.
- Among drivers with BAC levels of .08% or higher involved in fatal crashes in 2010, more than one out of every 3 were between 21 and 24 years of age (34%). The next two largest groups were ages 25-34 (30%) and 35 to 44 (25%).
- In 2010 there were 319 traffic fatalities in Connecticut. Of those, 43% were alcohol-related and 38% of those drivers had a BAC of .08% or higher. (NHTSA)
It isn’t clear just where or when the DUI checkpoint is coming. The effort is partially funded by the Connecticut Department of Transportation, Office of Transportation Safety, Ogrinc said.