Crime & Safety
State Drunk Driving Enforcement Campaign to Focus on Work Zone Safety
The initiative, a collaboration between law enforcement and transportation officials, is in response to a spate of recent work zone crashes.
WESTON, MA – Law enforcement officials launched their Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign in Weston Tuesday, with a special emphasis on improving safety in work zones.
The state Highway Safety Division and Massachusetts Department of Transportation will increase patrols at work zones from August 12 until Labor Day under the new $1.6 million initiative, funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Jeff Larason, director of the Highway Safety Division, said this summer alone there have been five crashes in work zones on Massachusetts roadways, all involving alcohol.
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According to Larason, between 2011 and 2014, there were 22 fatal crashes in work zones.
"These are the people who keep our transportation system working," Thomas Tinlin, MassDOT Highway Administrator, said at a press conference Tuesday. "They deserve to go home to their families as much as anybody else.
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In addition to addressing safety at work zones, the campaign will also address the larger problem of impaired driving in Massachusetts by monitoring establishments where individuals convicted for drunk driving were previously served and installing ads reminding drivers of the penalties for driving while intoxicated. On average, according to Larason, these penalties can include a fine of $10,000.
"These ads will make people think twice," Larason said at the press conference.
Larason said that 133 people were killed in crashes involving an impaired driver in 2014.
Framingham Police Chief Kenneth Ferguson hailed the program at the press conference and acknowledged the role drivers play in ensuring safety on the roadways, in addition to law enforcement. He called on parents of recently licensed drivers to practice good driving behavior as an example for their children.
"I can think of nothing worse than to tell a family that they've lost a loved one to drunk driving," Ferguson said.
Though the program runs through Labor Day, Larason said more work zone initiatives will be held in September. For now its focus is on Labor Day weekend, one of the deadliest periods of the year for impaired driving deaths.
According to the National Highway Safety Administration, 40 percent of fatal crashes over Labor Day weekend in 2014 involved drunk drivers.
Photo Credit: Alex Newman/Patch Staff
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