Enforcement agencies throughout New York state issued 3,262 tickets for impaired driving during the STOP-DWI “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign from August 19 through September 7. During that time, officers also issued 116,292 tickets for other vehicle and traffic law violations, such as speeding and distracted driving.
The STOP-DWI “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, supported by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC), occurs multiple times throughout the year to reduce alcohol and other drug-related traffic crashes. According to data from the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research at the University at Albany’s Rockefeller College, New York’s efforts to reduce impaired driving are succeeding. Fatal crashes involving an impaired driver have decreased more than 19 percent from 2010 to 2019.
The STOP-DWI program is a major component of New York’s efforts to combat impaired driving. STOP-DWI stands for “Special Traffic Options Program for Driving While Intoxicated.” The state’s STOP-DWI program is the nation’s first and, to date, only self-sustaining impaired driving program. The program’s efforts are funded entirely from fines paid by convicted impaired drivers. Importantly, the program’s coordinators are comprised of diverse professional backgrounds, including law enforcement and non-law enforcement.
