You Drink, You Drive, You Lose

Be warned that during the period, August 18 through Labor Day, September 5, the Liberal Police Department will join almost 150 other local and state police agencies across the state in a crackdown aimed at removing drunk, drugged, and other dangerous drivers from the roadways. Billed as, “You Drink. You Drive. You Lose.”, the enforcement is underwritten by a grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT).

Kansas averages four persons injured every day, and one person killed every three days, in crashes where at least one of the drivers involved is impaired by alcohol and/or another drug. According to KDOT, crashes involving impaired drivers are likely to be much more severe than other crashes. This is why persons involved in such a crash – in any capacity – are more than twice as likely to be injured, and 12 times more likely to die from their crash injuries, than if the crash does not involve impairment. Another way to think of this is to compare ratios of death-to-injury. There is one death for every 13 injuries among crashes in which a driver is impaired as compared with one death for every 60 injuries among crashes where impairment is not a factor.