Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over Kickoff Event

AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY

Good morning and thank you for joining us as we kick off our Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over high-visibility enforcement campaign. As we gear up for Labor Day weekend and the fall football season, we want to remind everyone to make smart choices, drive sober, or face the consequences. 

Impaired driving deaths declined almost 4 percent in 2024, but 11,904 people still lost their lives in crashes where at least one driver was impaired by alcohol. Impaired driving remains one of the leading factors in traffic deaths, and that’s why we’re partnering with law enforcement, states and safety organizations nationwide to remind everyone to Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over. 

The fact is: Impaired driving is 100% preventable, but far too many people think they’re either fine to get behind the wheel or that they won’t get caught. Those decisions can be life changing and far too often prove deadly. With all the options available today, there’s simply no excuse for driving drunk or high.

Starting tomorrow through Labor Day, law enforcement officers across the country will be stepping up their patrols to identify and stop impaired drivers. Thirty percent of all fatalities in 2024 involved at least one driver who was alcohol impaired, and drug-impaired driving continues to increase as a concern.

NHTSA is firmly committed to supporting law enforcement in their work to keep our roads safe. Law enforcement is the critical first line of defense for road safety and an officer may be the reason why a family makes it home safe instead of being killed or injured by an impaired driver. Our nation’s officers are tireless in their efforts, putting themselves in harm’s way to perform their lifesaving work, and we want them to know how grateful we are.

I’d like to thank the Arlington County Police Department, the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, and the Fairfax County Police Department for showing their support today. Traffic enforcement saves lives, and I deeply appreciate everything our men and women in blue do to make our roads safer.

Our campaign also addresses the dangers of driving impaired by drugs, as cannabis and other substances can impede someone’s ability to drive safely. Driving impaired by a drug, even one prescribed by a doctor, can result in a DUI just like alcohol. Our Drive High, Get a DUI high-visibility enforcement campaign reminds drivers that getting behind the wheel while high is dangerous and illegal.

Our impaired driving campaign also focuses on several key groups. The data show that the rate of alcohol impairment in drivers in fatal crashes is about three times higher at night than during the day. The numbers also tell us that there are four times as many alcohol-impaired male drivers as female drivers.

We also see higher rates of impairment among motorcyclists, as 41% of riders who died in single-motorcycle crashes in 2024 were alcohol impaired. Our Ride Sober or Get Pulled Over high-visibility campaign focuses on reaching these riders.

We hope everyone will make responsible choices for themselves and others this fall and all year round. On average, one alcohol-impaired-driving fatality occurred every 44 minutes in 2024. That means one more life was likely lost to an impaired driver while we’ve been talking here today.  Let’s hope our conversation and our campaign plants seeds that will grow into responsible decision-making across this great nation of ours.

Impaired driving is 100% preventable. There’s no excuse for getting behind the wheel or on the bike while impaired by alcohol or drugs. Please plan ahead and arrange for a sober ride home, use transit, call a cab, or book a rideshare if you’ve had anything that makes you unsafe to drive.

This fall, we’ll be asking football fans to join us and pledge to drive sober. NHTSA and our partners will be bringing this video wall and simulator behind me to college football games across the country – one each weekend leading into the playoffs – and inviting fans to become part of our movement.

Visit PledgeToDriveSober.com for our tailgate tour schedule and to find a game near you this fall. And if we aren’t coming to your stadium, we invite you to sign our virtual pledge and commit to being a sober driver.

Today we’ll kick things off by signing the pledge ourselves, and we look forward to seeing tens of thousands of signatures join ours in the coming months.

We also have a sobriety simulator that we’ll be bringing to college football games, and we hope it will be a sobering experience for students and older fans alike.

Thanks so much to our speakers and to all of you for joining us today to help kick off our Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over high-visibility enforcement campaign. For those of you in person, we invite you to join us in signing our pledge wall and experiencing the sobriety simulator.

Thank you again, and please stay safe.