Each year, Americans mark the end of summer with the Labor Day holiday weekend, a time to celebrate the hard work and many accomplishments of our country. Friends and families eagerly await pool parties, backyard barbecues, and other occasions to enjoy the last days of summer sunshine. Sadly, the Labor Day holiday has also become one of the deadliest, with drunk drivers endangering themselves and others on their way home from these holiday festivities. This year, Hendry County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to get drunk drivers off the roads and help save lives. The high-visibility national enforcement campaign, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over runs until Sept. 7, 2020. During this period, local law enforcement will show zero tolerance for drunk driving. Increased State and national messages about the dangers of driving impaired, coupled with enforcement and increased officers on the road, aim to drastically reduce drunk driving on our nation’s roadways.

Sadly, the statistics prove that we have a lot of work to do to put an end to drunk driving. According to NHTSA, on average, 10,000 people were killed each year from 2012 to 2016—one person killed every 50 minutes in 2016. This is why Hendry County Sheriff’s Office is working with NHTSA and law enforcement agencies across the nation, to remind drivers that drunk driving is not only illegal, it is a matter of life and death. As you head out to Labor Day festivities, remember: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.

“We need our community to understand: It’s up to them to make the smart decision to drive sober—Labor Day, and every day,” said Hendry County Sheriff Steve Whidden. “Drunk driving is a huge problem in our country, and the numbers are rising, little by little. This isn’t about a ticketing campaign. This is about a campaign to get the message out that drunk driving is illegal and it takes lives. Help us put an end to this senseless behavior,” he said.