Joliet Police to Conduct Thanksgiving Drunk Driving Crackdown

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet Police Department will be prowling the streets during the Thanksgiving holiday to increase seatbelt usage and crack down on drunk driving.

Special enforcement efforts will include several seat belt safety zones at various locations throughout the city, a roadside safety checkpoint, and citywide saturation enforcement, according to a news release from the city. The Thanksgiving holiday is one of the busiest travel times of the year, and more vehicles on the roadways means potential for more crashes and more fatalities.

In 2014, on average, 1 person was killed every 53 minutes in a drunk-driving crash in the United States, totaling 9,967 drunk-driving fatalities that year. The Joliet Police Department would like to remind the driving population that drunk driving is illegal and can be deadly. In fact, even with a BAC under .08, a driver could still be arrested and convicted of drunk driving if impaired.

During all of 2014, a total of 21,022 passenger vehicle occupants were killed in crashes and almost half (49 percent) of them were NOT wearing their seatbelts at the time of the crash. Among passenger vehicle occupant fatalities in 2014, the age groups 13-15 and 25-34 had the highest percentages (59 percent) of occupants who were unrestrained at the time of their fatal crash.

Officers assigned to these details will be checking for occupant, child restraint violations, DUI violations, as well as other violations of the Illinois Vehicle Code.

This enforcement campaign is possible through a grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation and will help to deter drunk driving and increase the usage of seatbelt and child restraints during and after the Thanksgiving holiday.

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