News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Overton County Sheriffs Department is prepared for the fight against drunk driving over the Labor Day Weekend.
The long weekend often sees an increase of intoxicated drivers on the road. County Sheriff John Garrett said he will be casting a wider net with more officers on the roads to help combat drunk drivers over the weekend.
“Here in Overton County, we have saturation patrols set up,” Garrett said. “We have officers that are going to working extra overtime hours that will be patrolling in conjunction with the patrolman we already have out there.”
Labor Day Weekend is among the deadliest weekends for drinking and driving. A report from the Tennessee Highway Safety Office said 41 percent of accidents with fatalities involved a drunk driver.
“Please don’t drink and driver,” Garrett said. “There’s no reason for it. If you chose to celebrate the holiday by consuming alcohol, be responsible think ahead have a sober ride.”
There will not be any sobriety checkpoints ran by the Sheriff’s department this weekend. Garrett said he has had more success running saturation patrols over roadblocks.
“We have found that saturation patrols are more effective with each patrolman being able to come into contact with vehicles that are on the roadway and the operators driving that vehicles,” Garrett said. “We have found that to us that is more effective than setting up a sobriety checkpoint.”
A study by Highway Safety Research Center did find saturation patrols to be more effective than DUI checkpoints.
