Update, 3/19/19:
During the four-day St. Patrick's Day saturation patrol period (March 15-18), JCSO deputies arrested six people for driving under the influence of intoxicants (DUII).
The next impaired driving enforcement event will take place during Spring Break - March 25 to 31, 2019.
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Original release, 3/14/19:
JACKSON COUNTY, Ore. – If your St. Patrick’s Day celebration includes alcohol, don’t rely on luck – make a plan now to help keep the roads safe for everyone. Jackson County Sheriff’s Office (JCSO) deputies will be adding patrols over the weekend to look for impaired drivers.
The 2019 St. Patrick’s Day patrols will run from March 15 to 18. Grant funding allows JCSO to put extra deputies on the road to enforce impaired driving laws without taking away from response to normal calls for service. It is part of the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign sponsored by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).
According to NHTSA, St. Patrick’s Day is one of the deadliest holidays on our nation’s roads. During the 2013 – 2017 St. Patrick’s Day holiday period (6 p.m. March 16 to 5:59 a.m. March 18), 234 lives were lost due to drunk-driving crashes.
Deputies say prevention is the key -- plan ahead to avoid driving while impaired:
For more information on the NHTSA Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign, go to the NHTSA website at https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving#view-campaign .
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