During the Labor Day holiday, including the end of summertime and the busy Labor Day weekend, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the South Dakota Office of Highway Safety is working alongside the law enforcement community in Brookings to decrease impaired driving. From Aug. 17, through Sept. 5, the Brookings County Sheriff’s Office and Brookings Police Department will be participating in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement period. In support of the law enforcement community’s dedication to protecting the lives of residents in their communities, you’ll see oOfficers working together during this time to take drunken drivers off the roads. No matter how you plan to celebrate the end of the season this year, make sure you plan it safely. 

According to the South Dakota Office of Highway Safety Accident Records, 56 people were killed and 690 were injured in motor vehicle crashes in 2021 that involved an alcohol-impaired driver. From 2017 through 2021, on average, more than 45 people were killed and more than 600 people were injured in alcohol-related crashes each year on South Dakota roads. This is why the police department and sheriff’s office working together with the South Dakota Office of Highway Safetyand NHTSA to remind drivers that drunk driving is not only illegal, it is a matter of life and death. As you head out to festivities during the end of summer and Labor Day weekend, remember: Drive sober or get pulled over. 

We want our community members to understand that it’s our priority to keep people safe, so we’re asking everyone to plan ahead if they know they’ll be out drinking. We need commitment from our community members that they’ll keep the streets free of drunken drivers so that everyone can have a safe summertime and Labor Day holiday. This is an awareness effort to get the message out that drunken driving is illegal and it takes lives. Let’s make this a partnership between law enforcement and drivers: Help us protect the community and put an end to this senseless behavior. 

During the 2021 Labor Day holiday period (6 p.m. Sept. 3 - 11:59 p.m. Sept. 6), South Dakota recorded 131 motor vehicle traffic crashes, resulting in 64 injuries and two fatalities. Both fatalities were pedestrians. Nearly 11% of the total crashes that occurred were alcohol related. One of the two fatalities involved alcohol, and over 17% of the 64 injuries were alcohol related. 

The Brookings Police Department, the Brookings County sheriff’s office, the South Dakota Office of Highway Safety, and NHTSA are reminding citizens of the many resources available to get them home safely. Drunk driving is not acceptable behavior, especially when there are so many safe alternatives to get you home safely. 

The police department and sheriff’s office recommend these safe alternatives to drinking and driving: 

• Remember that it is never OK to drink and drive. Even if you’ve had only one alcoholic beverage, designate a sober driver or plan to use public transportation or a ride service to get home safely. 

• If you see a drunken driver on the road, contact 911.

• Do you have a friend who is about to drink and drive? Take away the keys and make arrangements to get your friend home safely.

For more information on impaired driving, visit www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/drunk-driving.