Beginning Friday, state troopers from the Indiana State Police Peru Post will have sobriety checkpoints set up in Fulton County and conduct roving patrols throughout Howard and surrounding counties.
Impaired driving remains one of America’s deadliest problems. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2008, 37,261 people were killed nationally in motor vehicle crashes. That same year, 11,773 people were killed in crashes that involved a driver or motorcyclist with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. That means every 45 minutes someone died in a crash involving an impaired driver. In Indiana, in 2007, there were a total of 205,005 crashes, 9,942 of which were alcohol related, state police reported.
The purpose of enforcement checkpoints is to remove impaired drivers from Indiana roadways before they cause needless pain, suffering and death to innocent victims. Checkpoints also educate the motoring public of the ongoing efforts by the state police to reduce the number of impaired driving crashes and deter anyone from driving while intoxicated.
