The News Room [News Release]

Sheriff Contact: John Roach: 313-224-0615
Release Date: Wednesday, January 5, 2005

Wayne County enjoys 2nd year in a row with no drunken driving fatalities during Christmas week --- For the second year in a row, the efforts of police officers, sheriff’s deputies, Mother’s Against Drunken Driving and others have resulted in a Christmas holiday week free from drunken driving fatalities in Wayne County, Sheriff Warren Evans said today.

According to the Michigan State Police, which tracks the numbers, no police agency in Wayne County has reported a drunken driving death for the period between Christmas Eve through January 2, 2005.

“This is a great example of what we can accomplish when police agencies, the community and the media work together on a common cause,” Evans said. “This success is something we can all build on and strive to make a common occurrence throughout the year.”

Evans credits a nearly two-week-long campaign that raised the community’s awareness about the perils of drinking and driving, the expanded police presence on area roadways and the stiff penalties for people who are caught. Wayne County, along with other local police departments, received special grant funding from the State of Michigan to assign additional officers to drunken driving patrols beginning the week leading up to Christmas and lasting until after New Years. Mother’s Against Drunk Driving sponsored Project Life Ride, which provided hundreds of New Year’s Eve revelers with free taxi rides home. The local media did its part by promoting these efforts to help raise public awareness.

“Typically, holidays that are associated with a lot of drinking tend to have higher instances of traffic fatalities involving alcohol,” Evans said. “While we seem to have gotten a handle on the Christmas Holiday season, we as a community must remain ever vigilant.”

Dozens of people throughout Wayne County, however, were arrested for drunken driving. Evans said his Last Call unit will work closely with local district courts to make sure the offenders show up four their next hearing. If not, Evans said, his officers will be making personal home visits to arrest these people and bring them before a judge.

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