PEORIA, Ill. — The Peoria County Sheriff’s Office saw what it called an overall success from its Labor Day Weekend crackdown campaign.
Numbers released Tuesday show “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” yielded a fugitive apprehension and a felony arrest.
More minor infractions were also caught, such as 16 speeding violations and 18 seat belt violations.
Just a small number of those turned up drunk drivers, which is why Sheriff Brian Asbell said he considered the campaign to be successful.
“We’re seeing less and less impaired driving offenses, which is a wonderful problem to have,” he said.
“I think it’s years of education and awareness that have decreased the amount of people who drive intoxicated on the roadways.”
That said, Asbell added, there is one number that alarmed him.
“We’re still seeing an increase in distracted driving complaints,” he said, “which is just as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than impaired driving.
“Unfortunately, these are on the rise and have been influencing factors in many of our critical motor vehicle accidents we’ve seen over the past couple years.”
The office issued four distracted driving citations during the campaign.
“Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” is an Illinois Department of Transportation program. It’s funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
