The Tennessee Highway Patrol announced today that state troopers will be out in full force during the Fourth of July holiday weekend, cracking down on drunk drivers with an aggressive Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest enforcement blitz. To make sure motorist are obeying the law, the Tennessee Highway Patrol will conduct sobriety and driver license checkpoints across the state in an effort to reduce fatalities and serious injury crashes in Tennessee.

The consequences of drinking and driving are serious and real. Not only do you risk killing yourself or someone else, but the trauma and financial costs of a crash or an arrest for driving impaired can be significant. Violators often face jail time, the loss of their driver’s license, higher insurance rates, and dozens of other unanticipated expenses.

During the 2008 July 4 holiday weekend, 11 people died on Tennessee roadways. That’s a fatality rate of one death every seven hours and six minutes. Six of the seven people killed in automobile crashes last year were not wearing seatbelts. Four motorcyclists also died during the July 4th holiday weekend last year. Three of the deaths, or 27 percent, occurred in alcohol-related crashes.

The 2009 July 4th Holiday period begins at 6:00pm, Thursday, July 2, and will end at 11:59pm, Sunday, July 5. This is a 78-hour holiday period.