A number of Virginia law enforcement agencies are teaming up this weekend to offer increased sobriety checkpoints and DUI patrols as part of a Saturation Saturday effort to fight impaired driving.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving staff and volunteers will partner with law enforcement throughout the state on Aug. 24 as a coordinated effort aimed at saving lives through impaired driving enforcement.
While the event is held in advance of Labor Day, it is meant to draw attention to fatal crashes that occur over the holiday period. In 2022, there were 490 crash fatalities nationwide over the Labor Day holiday period and 39 percent involved a drunk driver.
MADD Virginia volunteers and staff are teaming up with:
- Alexandria Police Department
- Boykins Police Department
- Chesterfield County Police Department
- Craig County Sheriff’s Office
- Dickenson County Sheriff’s Office
- Exmore Police Department
- Fredericksburg Police Department
- Goochland Sheriff’s Office
- Haymarket Police Department
- Henrico County Police
- Hillsville Police Department
- Hopewell Police Department
- Lee County Sheriff’s Office
- Louisa County Sheriff’s Office
- Lynchburg Police Department
- Mathews County Sheriff’s Office
- Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority PD
- Narrows Police Department
- Nelson County Sheriff’s Office
- New Kent Sheriff’s Office
- Newport News Police Department
- Petersburg Bureau of Police
- Richmond City Police
- Richmond County Sheriff’s Office
- Tazewell County Sheriff’s Office
- Virginia Beach Police Department
- Virginia State Police
- Warren County Sheriff’s Office
- Waynesboro Police Department
- West Point Police Department
Saturation Saturday aligns with the annual National Highway Traffic Safety Administration “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign which includes enforcement efforts in August and September.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck effort to save lives by ramping up prevention and enforcement efforts ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend,” said Stacey D. Stewart, MADD CEO. “Police officers are often our first line of defense against impaired driving. On Saturation Saturday and every day, MADD is committed to supporting equitable and just enforcement efforts to stop this 100 percent preventable crime.”
Drunk driving stats
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sobriety checkpoints reduce drunk driving deaths by up to 20 percent
- Every year, more than 13,000 people are killed and almost 400,000 injured by impaired drivers
- Drunk driving fatalities have increased by 33 percent since 2019
- Every 79 seconds, someone in the U.S. is killed or injured by a drunk driver and that number does not include the deaths and injuries caused by drivers who were impaired by cannabis or other controlled substances
- In 2022, 298 people in Virginia were killed by drunk drivers, according to NHTSA
- According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sobriety checkpoints reduce drunk driving deaths by up to 20 percent
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Crystal Graham
