(CENTREVILLE) – The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Office will be taking part in a special program during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday.

The Sheriff’s Office will be working alongside the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to decrease impaired driving. From December 11, 2024 through January 1, 2025, Deputies will be a participating in the “Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over” enforcement period, working to take impaired drivers off the roads. They will be on the lookout for motorists under the influence of drugs and alcohol throughout the enforcement period.

In Michigan it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher although motorists can be arrested at any BAC level if an officer believes they are impaired.

In 2021, nearly 47% of fatalities on Michigan roadways involved alcohol and/or drugs, according to the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. Over the Christmas and New Year’s Holiday periods from 2017 to 2021, there were 78 drivers killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes in Michigan. In those crashes, 27 of the drivers killed were alcohol impaired.

The “Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over” campaign is supported with Federal traffic safety funds provided by the United States Department Of Transportation and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.