Statewide—The Indiana State Police are joining about 230 law-enforcement agencies across Indiana and thousands nationwide in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over mobilization. From mid-August through Labor Day, police will be working overtime to arrest impaired drivers. Expect to see increased sobriety checkpoints, roving patrols, and saturation patrols.
A driving while intoxicated (DWI) arrest means going to jail and losing your driver’s license. The average DWI can cost about $10,000, including car towing and repairs, attorney fees, fines, court costs, lost time at work and other hefty expenses.
In every state, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. In Indiana, drivers under 21 with a BAC of .02 or higher are subject to fines and a license suspension for up to 1 year.
DWI includes more than alcohol, and there is no quick field test for the many prescriptions, over-the-counter, and illegal drugs that can impair drivers. To assist with traffic enforcement, ICJI recently provided Indiana police agencies with:
- 2,600 portable breath tests to evaluate alcohol impairment in drivers,
- 1,000 RADAR and LIDAR speed-measurement devices, and
- Android tablets for 248 highly trained police officers who document drugged drivers.
