Law enforcement to look for DWIs on St. Paddy's Day
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 15, 2017 10:09 AM
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Law enforcement will be out making sure the roads are safe on St. Patrick's Day, patrolling for potentially impaired drivers. The best advice, lawmen say, is to plan ahead.
Drink a beer or two.
Have a shot.
And now you need to have a plan on how to get home this Saint Patrick's Day.
On a holiday when drunkenness is expected, law enforcement in turn expects people to have a plan for how to get home safely without endangering their own lives or other people's.
Authorities are urging people to either have a designated driver or call an Uber, taxi or friend to get home safely Friday night.
Each agency -- the Goldsboro Police Department, Wayne County Sheriff's Office and North Carolina State Highway Patrol -- will be hunting drunk drivers in their own way.
North Carolina State Highway Patrol First Sgt. Jerry Burton said the organization does not consider Saint Patrick's Day to be a big drinking holiday, but the agency will be conducting normal patrols that night.
"We'll be on our normal, routine patrol for scheduling purposes, but every day of the week we are always looking for aggressive driving, people not wearing seat belts or drunk drivers," Burton said.
On big drinking holidays, such as Memorial Day, July 4th and Labor Day, Burton said the highway patrol will add manpower and patrol main thoroughfares, but that will not happen with Saint Patrick's Day.
Goldsboro Police Chief Mike West said the department will work alongside the Wayne County DWI Task Force and could possibly conduct check points throughout the weekend in an effort to catch drunk drivers.
This is because there is a Booze It and Lose It campaign statewide this weekend, conducted through the Governor's Highway Safety Program.
"We are not under a grant obligation to them, but we always try and put in check points whenever there is a campaign," West said.
Sgt. Jayson Hill with the DWI Task Force said the agency does consider Saint Patrick's Day to be a big drinking holiday, but two men on the team are out for family-related reasons, so only two members of the task force will be working.
Hill said the Booze It and Lose It campaign kick off Thursday and lasts for a week, so motorists can expect increased enforcement efforts.
"People are starting to get out because Spring is near and it (Saint Patrick's Day) is a traditional drinking holiday," Hill said. "Bars have Saint Patrick's Day specials and people get out and drink and make poor decisions and drive, and we try to be more aggressive about our enforcement."
This year, there is a "Shamrock Shuffle" in downtown Goldsboro that will give people the opportunity to get out and bar-hop and enjoy the night. Law enforcement asks they do so responsibly.
Hill said last year authorities had a large traffic checkpoint on Saint Patrick's Day and booked multiple DWI arrests.
"In the past we've gotten more on Saint Patrick's Day weekend than normal," Hill said.
And while the law allows for some wiggle room in how much a person can consume before they drive, Burton said to make sure to have a plan to get home if you plan on having more than one or two drinks.
"The law doesn't say you can't drink at all, it just says you can't be more than .08 (BAC)," Burton said. "If you're going to have more than one or two drinks, have a driver."