BELLEVUE, Neb. (KMTV) – The holiday brings a significant increase in drunk driving-related crashes, and fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
- BPD spent the day out on a traffic grant
- The grant helped the officers watch out for drunk drivers on the holiday
- The police department has been promoting the traffic grant for weeks to discourage neighbors from drinking and driving on St. Patrick's Day
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Lt. Joe Milos and a team of eight officers with Bellevue Police Department were watching over the roads on St. Patrick’s Day, on a traffic grant, making sure neighbors celebrating the holiday are drinking responsibly or finding a ride home.
“We’re sending a message to the public that we are out here and that we don't want people to drink and drive because of crashes we come into contact with impaired drivers, people that are injured, and people who die. There is zero tolerance for that,” Milos said.
The holiday is one of the busiest days of the year for drunk driving arrests, and there is a significant increase in drunk driving-related crashes, and fatalities, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Responding to drunk driving crashes is hard for every officer and the families involved, Milos said.
“It’s a horrific event for anyone involved,” he said. “It does affect our officers to have to deal with that to have to make those investigations, to make notifications to a family that a loved one is injured or has passed away.”
The police department has been promoting the traffic grant for weeks to discourage neighbors from drinking and driving.
The grant also helps the department find areas where more dangerous driving happens in Bellevue neighborhoods.
