WILLMAR -- Local law enforcement officers begin the July campaign against impaired driving this week. They urge citizens to get serious about planning a sober ride or a safe place to stay after a party.
Officers from the Kandiyohi County Sheriff's office, plus city police officers from the Willmar, Benson, and Atwater police and law enforcement agencies in Meeker, Renville, Yellow Medicine, Lac Qui Parle, Big Stone and Swift counties will work overtime hours to keep road users from being killed or disabled by impaired drivers this Independence Day weekend and through the month of July. Law enforcement is serious about taking impaired drivers off the road.
"No matter what you drive -- a passenger car, pickup, or motorcycle--if you are caught driving impaired, you will be arrested," said Kandiyohi County Sheriff, Dan Hartog. "Impaired driving crashes -- the injuries and deaths -- are simply not acceptable. That's why a DWI will cost you close to $20,000. "
While most impaired driving crashes and arrests take place at night, motorists need to be alert to the mistakes impaired drivers make at all times.
In Kandiyohi County alone, people were arrested for impaired driving every hour of the night and day last year. Minnesota saw a record 41,842 DWI arrests in 2006, with more than 3,700 incidents in July.
