State police agencies have started the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign

The annual “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” year-end campaign has begun to create safer roadways during the holiday season and crack down on drunk driving across the state.Attorney General Matthew Platkin and the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety announced the kickoff of this year’s campaign on Friday. The campaign runs until Jan. 1, 2024.The Division of Highway Traffic Safety has allocated over $795,000 in grant funding to 132 police agencies throughout the state, according to a release from Platkin’s office.

The additional funding will help police officers “conduct saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints to assist in removing alcohol or drug-impaired drivers from New Jersey roadways.”“Getting behind the wheel while impaired is a serious and dangerous decision that comes with real-life consequences,” said Platkin in the release. “The ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ campaign is not merely a slogan; it is a reminder that risking lives on the road is never OK.”During last year’s holiday season, which spans from the day before Thanksgiving to New Year’s Eve, 69 people in New Jersey were killed by crashes caused by impaired driving, according to Platkin’s office.

More than 4,500 people were killed nationwide in drunk driving-related crashes during December months from 2017 through 2021, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.During the state’s campaign last year, police made 574 arrests for impaired driving throughout New Jersey. The officers also issued 1,664 seat belt tickets, 431 distracted driving tickets, 2,898 speeding tickets and 3,537 summonses for other hazardous moving violations.

The full list of grant amounts awarded per town can be found on the Attorney General’s official website.

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