County-Wide Patrols and Checkpoint Planned in Pottawatomie County

Oklahoma Department of Public Safety sent this bulletin at 12/28/2018 02:00 PM CST

County-Wide Patrols and Checkpoint Planned in Pottawatomie County

It is New Year’s weekend and everyone is excited! The roads will be busy and the bars will be packed.The Oklahoma Highway Patrol and the ENDUI team will be partnering with the Pottawatomie County Sheriff’s Office, Shawnee, Tecumseh, Maud, Sac and Fox, Kickapoo, Earlsboro, Mcloud, Citizen Pottawatomie Nation, and Absentee Shawnee Tribe Police Departments for a sobriety checkpoint and high-visibility patrols. Our goal will be to make the roads as safe as possible for everyone ringing in the new year.

The checkpoint will be in Shawnee from 10 p.m. to midnight on Monday, Dec. 31. The saturation patrols will take place across the entire county before, during, and after the checkpoint.

The media is invited to attend this checkpoint to help us raise awareness about the impaired driving problem in Oklahoma. Interviews with members of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol will be available. To coordinate times, locations, and interviews, please email Cody.McDonell@dps.ok.gov.

"The goal is simple; make sure people know we are out there looking for impaired drivers so they will make the right choice to get a sober ride home," said Trooper Aaron Nickell with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol's ENDUI team.

FOR RELEASE

December 28, 2018

MEDIA CONTACT

Cody McDonell
Cody.McDonell@dps.ok.gov
(405) 479-7637

These activities are part of the nationwide "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" campaign, which happens twice each year. This campaign is meant to make the roads safer for everyone traveling during the holiday season by getting impaired drivers off the roads.

As a part of the "Drive Sober" campaign, the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office (OHSO) is offering a $10 off Uber coupon for anyone who will use it. With the abundance of ride-share services in Oklahoma, there is no reason for someone to drive under the influence. By offering these discount codes, the OHSO hopes to increase the number of people using a sober driver to get home and decrease the number of people killed in crashes across the state. To sign up for the code, click here.

There is absolutely no reason for impaired driving collisions to happen. If you are drinking, have a plan to get home safe.

In 2017, 656 people were killed in crashes in Oklahoma; almost half of those (324) were killed in drug/alcohol-related crashes. This is up from 43 percent killed in drug/alcohol-related crashes in 2016 in Oklahoma.

Everyone is highly encouraged to find a safe ride by calling a sober driver, using a cab, Uber, Lyft or any other ride-share service. Better yet, have a designated driver. Have fun and enjoy life, but do not, under any circumstances, drive while impaired by alcohol or any other substance. The cost is too high. Let’s ENDUI.

The ENDUI enforcement team coordinates multi-jurisdictional events on a regular basis, including sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols. These efforts are needed to impact Oklahoma’s impaired driving problem across the state. The locations of these activities are driven by data from the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office and by local request.

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The ENDUI Oklahoma program is a program of the Oklahoma Highway Safety Office and is funded through impaired driving grants from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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