Law enforcement officers from 80 police departments, sheriff offices and Michigan State Police (MSP) posts recently increased patrols across the state during the holiday “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” enforcement campaign that ran from December 17, 2021, to January 1, 2022.

Before and during the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, law enforcement officers throughout Michigan participated in the enforcement campaign with the goal of saving lives and decreasing crashes by stopping impaired drivers.

“If you are impaired by any substance you shouldn’t drive. The goal of this campaign was to get dangerous drunk and drugged drivers off our roadways,” said Alicia Sledge, interim director of the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning (OHSP). “Officers were able to take 140 impaired drivers off our roads and issue more than 900 speeding citations, making it safer for everyone.”

Preliminary reports indicate officers made 4,099 traffic stops, arrested 127 drunk drivers and 13 drivers under the influence of drugs, and issued 906 speeding citations and 35 seat belt citations. In addition, officers made 103 felony arrests and 309 misdemeanor arrests during the enforcement period.

In Michigan, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher, although motorists can be arrested at any BAC level if an officer believes they are impaired. Michigan’s drunk driving law contains a zero-tolerance provision for drivers with certain illegal drugs in their system. The same penalties for drunk driving also apply to those convicted under the zero-tolerance drug provision.

According to the 2020 Michigan Annual Drunk Driving Audit by the MSP, 41.8 percent of all fatal crashes that occurred involved alcohol, drugs or both.

In their holiday enforcement reports, officers statewide witnessed an alarming number of vehicles traveling well above the posted speed limit.