Officials with the transportation agency report that last Labor Day weekend, there were 338 drunk driving wrecks on Texas highways. Twenty-one people were killed. Forty-two others were seriously hurt.
TxDOT’s Deidrea George says all those crashes were preventable.
“If you’re not designating a sober driver, then you do not need to drive at all,” says George. “You can call a taxi; you can use soberrides.org. There are so many things that you can do, instead of get behind the wheel if you’ve been drinking.”
And even if there isn’t a crash, a DWI conviction is something that won’t go away anytime soon.
George says it can wind up costing up to $17,000.
“If you are working a job, you may lose that job because of the time you’re going to be spending in court and paying all these fees,” says George. “And you don’t have a job and are looking for a job, that certainly is something that you don’t want your future employers to know.”
Many communities around Texas are ramping up patrols, specifically looking for intoxicated drivers.
They’re also having “No Refusal” weekends — that’s where law enforcement officers are authorized to take blood samples from suspected drunk drivers.
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