VIDEO: Sheriff Wayne Ivey’s Weekly Crime Prevention Tip Focuses On ‘Driving While Intoxicated’

By  //  January 30, 2017

choose your ride...Don't Drink and Drive

ABOVE VIDEO: This week, I want to shift gears and turn our Weekly Crime Prevention Message to “Driving While Intoxicated” which is the second area of Crime Prevention we will work diligently throughout the year to combat.

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – Over the course of the past month we have focused our Weekly Crime Prevention Message on Domestic Violence which is one of our two primary Crime Prevention focuses in 2017.

This week, I want to shift gears and turn our Weekly Crime Prevention Message to “Driving While Intoxicated” which is the second area of Crime Prevention we will work diligently throughout the year to combat.

Now we have all heard that we shouldn’t drink and drive yet people still do it every day and in doing so put their lives and the lives of others at risk.

So in an effort to truly emphasize the danger of drinking and driving, please think about the very pointed message that our agency delivers every day through the use of our DUI Prevention Car.

The message is simple…CHOOSE YOUR RIDE!

• Across Florida, the vast majority of DUI-related fatalities occur on Friday or Saturday, with most accidents taking place between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

• In past years, DUI-related accidents were responsible for nearly 30% of Florida’s traffic fatalities.

• In 2014, there were 797 traffic fatalities caused by drunk driving in the state of Florida.

• Almost every 90 seconds, somebody is injured in a DUI-related car accident

• Every day in the US, an average of 28 people die as a result of drunk driving accidents

• The rate of drunk driving is highest among 21 to 25 year olds (23.4%)

• At all levels of blood alcohol concentration (BAC), the risk of being involved in a crash is greater for younger drivers than for older drivers

• Florida had recorded a total of 113,076 3-time DUI offenders and 11,681 5-time offenders as of 2012

• The cost of a first offense DUI, including costs of legal defense, court costs, fines, and auto insurance increases, averages about $8,000 -$10,000 over a 3-year period.

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The above statistics are staggering and frightening, especially when you consider that for as little as $24.00 you, your family and friends can ride to your destination safely in the backseat of a taxi cab.

Conversely, if you choose to drink and drive, you can ride safely and securely in the back seat of one of our Patrol Cars where you will go directly to jail with estimated costs of up to $10,000 in Attorney’s Fees, Court Costs, Insurance Increases, and Fines.

An even more devastating scenario when you choose to drink and drive is that you could harm or kill yourself or others in a traffic crash. Poor decisions that will forever alter lives and that could have easily been avoided!

While the cost of being arrested for DUI should in itself serve as a deterrent, the potential of taking a life is the greatest reason to never drink and drive.

So choose your ride…Don’t Drink and Drive!