Starting Friday, there will be a lot more police out looking for drunk drivers.
The Indiana State Police (ISP) Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office (VCSO) and the Evansville Police Department (EPD) are participating in the annual ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ enforcement campaign.
This program is from August 16 through September second to deter drunk driving around Labor Day. This is funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Officers will be offered grant-funded overtime hours to only watch for impaired drivers.
Sgt. Nick Winsett with the EPD said impairment can include drug impaired or alcohol-impaired offences.
“… and it's going to be mainly towards the evening, overnight hours that we're going to have these directed patrols.”
He said due to the sheer size of the EPD compared to other agencies, they'll have the most patrols in Evansville. Overall, he roughly estimates they’ll add 50 to 150 overtime hours for the campaign.
Aside from patrolling, this will involve sobriety checkpoints, said Sgt. John Davis with the ISP.
“They're stationary roadblocks, and they're set up by law enforcement agencies to identify and deter drivers who may be operating vehicles under the influence of alcohol or drugs.”
These will be in high-traffic areas, stopping random vehicles to confirm driver’s sobriety via a set of questions.
Davis said if they don’t pass the verbal test, there’s the physical test.
“We have three standard tests that we perform on everyone,” he said. “We perform a series of horizontal gaze, nystagmus, where we check your eyes, and then there's where you walk the line, walk and turn and then the one leg stand.”
The ISP is reporting that in 2023, around 20-percent of all traffic fatalities in Indiana involved alcohol impairment. In 2023, nearly a quarter of all traffic fatalities involved drug impairment.
The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office will also be cooperating with the Evansville Police Department especially at sobriety checkpoints.
VCSO Lt. Erik Nilssen said social media about checkpoint dates and times, can deter drunk driving.
“We are required to basically put out a notification to the public, ‘hey, there's going to be a checkpoint on this day and between these times,’” he said. "But we don't have to publicize where the checkpoint will be. People who are considering going out and drinking and driving, that may make them second guess doing that because they know they may get caught.”
He said in 2023, there were 170 total drunk driving arrests by the sheriff’s office. There are already 113 which he agrees seems quite high.
Davis with the ISP said there has been a decline in some impaired driving activity. He credits rideshare services like Uber or Lyft.
Winsett feels there used to be more cases of drunk driving deaths this time of year.
“I'm going off years past — you had a lot more instances of drunk drivers, fatalities, incidents like that. So it is helping. Now, could it be better? Yes, for sure, but yet, it is helping.”
He urges drivers to take advantage of all the latest transportation options.
“People need to be aware that there's going to be a lot more officers out looking for impaired drivers,” he said. Between online rideshare and taxi cabs, he said, “there's other ways of getting home after going out and enjoying yourself. So driving is probably not a good idea.”
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