Summer may be drawing to a close, but the Governor’s Highway Safety Program’s “Booze It & Lose It” is kicking into gear for the holiday weekend.

This week, local law enforcement will be stepping up patrols, putting the spotlight on putting a stop to driving infractions from seatbelt violations to speeding. But the primary focus of “Booze It & Lose It” is on getting those driving under the influence out from behind the wheel.

“Any program that heightens the public’s awareness of such a prevalent and dangerous crime and removes dangerous drivers from our roads is effective in my book. The same goes for the campaigns involving the use of seat belts and child restraints,” said Second Judicial District Attorney Seth Edwards. “The statistics of drunk driving deaths each year are staggering and yet preventable if people would not drive while impaired.”

Earlier this month, hundreds of local law enforcement officers and officials gathered in Concord earlier this month for the North Carolina Highway Safety Symposium, an annual event where local and national experts talk about highway safety issues. The symposium was also the official kickoff for the 2015 Labor Day “Booze It & Lose It” campaign that runs through Sept. 7.
While Beaufort County’s numbers are low compared to more populous North Carolina counties, each initiative snags several drivers who are under the influence. From June 26 to July 5, the state’s “Operation Firecracker,” 551 citations were issued to Beaufort County drivers, including 164 speeding tickets, 93 seatbelt violations and 13 DWIs — two of them to drivers under the age of 21. Last year’s Labor Day initiative saw 739 violations. Of them, were 278 speeding tickets; 86 seatbelt violations and 17 DWIs.

In addition to “Booze It & Lose It,” GHSP has a other initiatives: “Click It or Ticket,” focusing on seatbelt usage; and “No Need to Speed,” a crackdown on speeders, among others. But Edwards said he’d like to see the GHSP expand its initiatives.

“I expect to see some initiatives on distracted driving as well,” Edwards said. “Texting while driving has become a major problem.”

According to the NCDOT, distracted drivers are the second most common cause of car crashes in the state behind speeding, playing a part in 23 percent of all accidents in 2013, the most recent year for which data is available.