State police are reminding teenagers that if they drink and drive this prom season, they could pay some severe consequences.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- State police are reminding teenagers that if they drink and drive this prom season, they could pay some severe consequences.
The Arkansas State Police Highway Safety Office announced Monday that state, county and city law enforcement agencies will join forces March 11-20 and April 15-24 looking for drunk drivers with an emphasis on those under 21 years of age.
Officers will conduct additional sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols as part of the continuing effort to apprehend drunk drivers.
According to state police, motor vehicle crashes remain the number one killer of teenagers in America, and nearly one-third of the fatality crashes are alcohol related.
Spring, the season of proms, school breaks and graduation parties, can be a dangerous time for young drivers. Alcohol-related traffic fatalities typically rise during these months, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The consequences of a DWI or DUI are far more serious than an impaired driver may realize. Arkansas teenagers driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) between .02 and .07 can be arrested for Driving Under the Influence (DUI). If the BAC is .08 or greater, an arrest of Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) will occur.
Arkansas' penalties for underage DUI are substantial and include the loss of driving privileges, court imposed fines and community service. The fine for an underage DUI ranges from $100 to $2000. In addition, there are attorney's fees and significantly higher insurance premiums.
If an underage driver registers a BAC of .08 or above, law enforcement officers are required to charge the violator with Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), which is the same as an adult offense and has identical consequences of jail sentences, fines, court costs, community service, license suspension, higher insurance premiums and possibly other related costs.
"There's even a greater cost to pay in personal anguish that lives forever when death or serious injury has been the result of a drunk driver," said Colonel Winford E. Phillips, Director of the Arkansas State Police and Governor's Highway Safety Representative. "We are asking teenagers to stop and consider all the consequences before being caught and arrested for drunk driving."
The current education campaign is designed to increase awareness of the dangers associated with teenage drinking and driving through heightened enforcement operations, paid media and school-based educational activities.
"We want to be sure that young people get the message that underage drinking and driving is a crime that will not be tolerated," Colonel Phillips said.
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Showing posts with label Underage Drinking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Underage Drinking. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Chapel Hill police crack down on serving to minors
Kathryn Ruff didn’t look at the license closely enough.
A server at Four Corners Grille, she was charged with selling a malt beverage to a minor after an undercover alcohol law enforcement check was held at the Franklin Street bar, along with 46 others in the Chapel Hill area.
“I didn’t know they send people in,” said Ruff, a first-time offender. “Pay attention, because you never know.”
Ruff was one of the 13 servers charged with selling alcohol to minors in the Jan. 7 operation, the latest in an effort to reduce underage drinking in the area.
The Alcohol Law Enforcement Response Team has issued more citations for selling alcohol to minors this year than in all of 2009, the year the group was formed.
Last year, 39 were issued.
“We’re getting stricter on enforcement,” said Chapel Hill Alcohol Enforcement Officer Debbie Timmons.
ALERT was formed in February 2009 by the Chapel Hill Police Department and the Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
The team, comprised of local police officers, focuses on fighting underage drinking in Orange County.
Lt. Pat Burns, an ALERT coordinator and retired police officer, said the team uses underage customers to go into businesses and attempt to buy alcohol.
The minors use their own IDs, and an undercover officer is also present in the business to witness, he said.
“We don’t like to see it,” Burns said. “We’re not trying to get people out of business.”
Burns said bartenders often rely on the people working the door to check IDs, but they don’t always do it.
READ MORE HERE
A server at Four Corners Grille, she was charged with selling a malt beverage to a minor after an undercover alcohol law enforcement check was held at the Franklin Street bar, along with 46 others in the Chapel Hill area.
“I didn’t know they send people in,” said Ruff, a first-time offender. “Pay attention, because you never know.”
Ruff was one of the 13 servers charged with selling alcohol to minors in the Jan. 7 operation, the latest in an effort to reduce underage drinking in the area.
The Alcohol Law Enforcement Response Team has issued more citations for selling alcohol to minors this year than in all of 2009, the year the group was formed.
Last year, 39 were issued.
“We’re getting stricter on enforcement,” said Chapel Hill Alcohol Enforcement Officer Debbie Timmons.
ALERT was formed in February 2009 by the Chapel Hill Police Department and the Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
The team, comprised of local police officers, focuses on fighting underage drinking in Orange County.
Lt. Pat Burns, an ALERT coordinator and retired police officer, said the team uses underage customers to go into businesses and attempt to buy alcohol.
The minors use their own IDs, and an undercover officer is also present in the business to witness, he said.
“We don’t like to see it,” Burns said. “We’re not trying to get people out of business.”
Burns said bartenders often rely on the people working the door to check IDs, but they don’t always do it.
READ MORE HERE
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