(WHITE TWP.) – Alcohol-related car crashes take a terrible toll, Warren County freeholders said as they proclaimed December to be National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month in Warren County.
           
The Board of Chosen Freeholders called upon all citizens, agencies, business leaders, hospitals, schools and public and private institutions in Warren County to support programs and policies to reduce the incidence of impaired driving, encourage more responsible driving, and increase public safety during this December holiday season and throughout the year.
           
“We also have to make sure our kids are aware of the pitfalls and problems” related to impaired driving, Freeholder Director John DiMaio said, noting that “Prevention starts at home, when people are young.”

“It’s just a severe tragedy to families when a young person is killed in an auto accident, and it happens all too frequently,” Freeholder Richard D. Gardner said.

“I’ve been very concerned about this for a long time,” Gardner added. “I think our driver ed courses have to be tougher in this state.”

“I would like to urge all people, not only during the holiday season, but throughout the year, to be very cognizant” of the problem, Freeholder Everett A. Chamberlain noted. “There’s just too many lives lost, too many people are crippled and maimed. It’s a senseless thing that happens,” Chamberlain said.
The freeholders urged that people avoid drinking to excess and said to use designated drivers to avoid any possibility of driving while impaired.

The proclamation, which the freeholders presented to Shawn Buskirk, Deputy Director in the Warren County Department of Human Services, notes that the Warren County Intoxicated Driver Resource Center Program provides the mandatory alcohol and drug education program for approximately 325 convicted drunk drivers a year in an effort to reduce DWIs in the county.

Buskirk thanked the freeholders for their support of programs to reduce drunk or drugged driving, adding, “The bottom line is increased public safety.”

WHEREAS, nationally, about three in every ten Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash at some point in their lives (National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (2006); and

WHEREAS, according to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (2007), someone dies in an alcohol related traffic crash every thirty minutes and someone is injured in an alcohol related accident every two minutes; and

WHEREAS, Warren County Intoxicated Driver Resource Center Program provides the mandatory alcohol and drug education program for approximately 325 convicted drunk drivers a year in an effort to reduce DWI’s in the county; and

WHEREAS, Warren County is a partner in the effort to make our roadways safer by promoting awareness of the problems associated with driving under the influence; and

WHEREAS, community-based programs provide drug and alcohol education and treatment services as well as advocate for more effective laws and stronger police enforcement which have proven to be successful in reducing impaired driving; and

WHEREAS, organizations from every state are joining together to provide safe rides home for potential drunk drivers to improve our nation’s roadways and support sober driving programs and policies; and

NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders does hereby proclaim December 2008 as National Drunk and Drugged Driving (3D) Prevention Month in Warren County.  The Board of Chosen Freeholders calls upon all citizens, agencies, business leaders, hospitals, schools and public and private institutions in Warren County to support programs and policies to reduce the incidence of impaired driving, encourage more responsible driving and increase public safety during this December holiday season and throughout the year.

John DiMaio, Director                        
Richard D. Gardner, Deputy Director
Everett A. Chamberlain, Freeholder