Officials Hope Memorial Wall Discourages Drunk Driving Over Holiday Season
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Every holiday season police are out in force cracking down on impaired drivers. This year, in addition to DUI patrols and checkpoints, they are doing something else.
Local law enforcement today unveiled their newest and perhaps most personal tool to deter drunk driving.
With the holidays just around the corner, you'll probably be heading to parties and get-togethers. Police and the Pa. DUI Association want to make sure your being responsible, and they're hoping a new memorial wall encourages people to be just that.
It has the names of more than 1,000 victims of DUI crashes across the state.
Renee Jordan of McDonald just happened to pass the display on her way into the Mall at Robinson. Her son, Michael, was 22-years-old when he was killed in a drunk driving accident.
"You don't ever want to experience this," she said. "This is something that just, it will crush you and it will crush your family, and there's not a day that goes by that you don't feel it."
The permanent memorial is located in Harrisburg. A constant reminder of the dangers of driving impaired and the innocent lives lost.
"This is what can happen, tragedy can occur, don't take the chance," says Cathy Tress, of the Pa. DUI Association.
Police say typically they see an increase in DUI cases around Christmas and New Year's.
If reading all of these names isn't enough to stop you from getting behind the wheel after drinking...maybe this will.
"If you drink and drive, we're looking for you," said Sgt. Douglass Ogden, of the Moon Township Police Department. "If you make that bad decision, we're looking to lock you up, and if you think you're going to rely on, 'Well, it's the Christmas season and I'm a nice guy, maybe they will cut me some slack,' you're thinking wrong, that's just not the way it is."
Police all over the area will be beefing up patrols in the coming weeks in hopes of preventing more names to be added to the already too long list.
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Pa. DUI Association
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