He said they also expect an increase in crashes and people driving while intoxicated, even during the day.
“Because of the way this holiday is celebrated, people sometimes start extremely early, and forget to have that plan, or they think they maybe have a drink or two early in the morning and that they are going to be fine the rest of the day, but they’re not,” Cairns said. “Just one drink is enough to put someone in a state where they should not be driving.”
The sergeant said that police would have OVI checkpoints set up throughout the weekend, as well as additional police patrols.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that from 2018 to 2022, 290 people died in alcohol-impaired crashes around the holiday, from 6 p.m. March 16 to 5:59 a.m. March 18. Of those, 74 died in 2022.
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