Booze It & Lose It campaign to begin Dec. 16

JACKSON, Tenn. — Law enforcement in Tennessee will be ramping up its efforts to keep the roads safe.

During this holiday season, the Tennessee Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies in Tennessee are partnering with the Tennessee Highway Safety Office to prevent drunk or impaired driving.

This is a part of the Booze It and Lose It campaign across the state. This campaign will begin December 16 and continue until January 1 of next year.

This initiative is part of the National Highway Safety Administration’s Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over nationwide mobilization.

“We’re attempting to reduce the number of impaired driving crashes by increasing messaging about the dangers of drunk driving, coupled with increased sobriety checkpoints, and high visibility enforcement. We aim to drastically reduce the number of drunk driving crashes, injuries, and fatalities this year,” said Lt. Chris Hosick with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Hosick says statistics from this year show why drunk driving is so harmful and dangerous.

“Locally, there have been 93 fatal crashes in the 14 counties in the Jackson district. Of those, the statistics indicate that about a quarter of the 93 crashes involved drivers who were impaired by either alcohol, drugs, or both alcohol and drugs,” Hosick said.

The consequences for a DUI for a first time offender could be costly fines, court costs, legal fees, mandatory drug and alcohol treatment, the installation of an ignition interlock device in your vehicle, or even jail time.

Hosick said the best way to avoid drinking and driving is by making arrangements for an alternate driver before you even start consuming alcohol.

So things like an Uber, a friend, or some other arrangement can help keep you from getting behind the wheel of a car when drinking alcohol.

This has been an annual enforcement for the last few years.

You can find more news from across the state here.