FMPD launching impaired driving awareness campaign

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Dennis Capati / MGN/ Michael Gil / Flickr / CC BY 2.0

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Local law enforcement agencies are launching a new campaign to help keep drivers safe on the roads this holiday season.

December is National 3D month (Drinking, drugs, and driving).  In Lee County, authorities are making it 4D month (drinking, drugs, distracted and drowsy driving).

Authorities say driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs continues to be the most often committed and deadliest crime in the United States.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2013, 10,076 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, an average of one alcohol-impaired driving fatality occurred every 52 minutes. The fatalities accounted for 31 percent of the total motor vehicle traffic fatalities in the United States.

Of the 10,076 people who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2013, 6,515 (65%) were drivers with BACs of .08 or higher. The remaining fatalities consisted of 2, 724 motor vehicle occupants (27%) and 837 non-occupants (8%).

In 2013, a total of 1,149 children 14 and younger were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes. Of those, 1,149 fatalities, 200 (17%) occurred in alcohol-impaired driving crashes. Out of the 200 deaths, 121 (61%) were occupants of vehicles with drivers who had BACs of .08 or higher, and another 29 children (15%) were pedestrians or pedal cyclists struck by drivers with BACs of .08 or higher.

In Lee County in 2014, there were 84 traffic fatalities. As of Oct. 21, 2015 there have been 77 fatalities on local roadways. Authorities say 48 percent- 52 percent of the trauma alerts have alcohol or illicit drugs or both in their system at the time of the crash.

Bicycle and pedestrian crashes from January 1, 2014- Nov. 14, 2015 have totaled 1,043 crashes.

In 2014, there were 537 crashes with 28 fatal and 393 injuries; in 2015, there were 506 crashes with 19 fatal and 360 injuries.

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