Dear Editor:
As Sheriff of Hudson County we are participating for the first time in Hudson County in the statewide campaign dubbed “Over The Limit Under Arrest 2008 Statewide Crackdown” against drunk driving. Beginning on August 15 and running through September 1, 2008, the Sheriff’s Office will conduct sobriety checkpoints throughout Hudson County looking for motorists who may be driving while intoxicated.
Drunk driving is no accident nor is it a victimless crime. Every year we continue to see far too many people suffer debilitating injuries or loss of their loved one as a result of impaired driving. Thousands of people are killed each year involving a driver or a motorcycle rider with an illegal blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. The human toll is combined with the cost of crashes cost the Nation billions of dollars each year. Drunk driving is not only dangerous. But also a serious crime – that is why our office will join the law enforcement effort to arrest impaired drivers wherever and whenever we find them on the roads of Hudson County.
I have to state that the campaign “Drunk Driving Over the Limit, Under Arrest” is a step in the right direction but it will take more than crackdowns, programs and the lowering of the alcohol limit to save the lives and keep drunk drivers off the road – it most certainly requires personal responsibility that must ultimately rest with the driver.
I truly believe that if this effort in the next weeks prevent one person from driving while impaired and helps save a life, then the program is sell worth the endeavor. On behalf of all of the officers in the Hudson County Sheriff’s Office we urge you to fully recognize that alcohol, drugs and driving simply do not mix – don’t take a chance – the life you save may be your own or that of a loved one.
Yours in Public Safety,
Sheriff Juan M. Perez