RALEIGH – The results are in from the “Booze It & Lose It” Labor Day campaign. Law enforcement officers across the state arrested 2,866 people for driving drunk from Aug. 16-Sept. 2.
“These results show a combination of high-visibility enforcement and hard work by our DWI Task Forces is paying off,” said Don Nail, director of the NC Governor’s Highway Safety Program.

“Through this team approach, we’re cracking down on drunk drivers and keeping North Carolina roads safe.”

A great example of this unified effort is in Guilford County. Law enforcement agencies there, including the new DWI Task Force, are making a significant difference in the effort to keep drunk drivers off the roads.

During the Labor Day “Booze It & Lose It” campaign, they arrested 220 drivers for DWI, which is more than twice as many arrests as last year during the same time period. The DWI Task Force in Guilford County was responsible for 27.7 percent of those arrests, showing the critical role its members play in catching drivers who break the law.

The counties with the most DWI arrests during the campaign include:

• Wake County had the most DWI arrests with 257. Of those, 16.7 percent were arrested by the Wake County DWI Task Force;
• Following Guilford County, Mecklenburg County had the third highest number of DWI arrests with 181. The county does not currently have a task force;
• Forsyth County had the fourth highest amount of DWI arrests at 118. Nearly 18 percent of the DWI arrests were made by the Forsyth County DWI Task Force; and
• Cumberland County had the fifth highest total of DWI arrests at 93. Cumberland County does not currently have a task force. 

In addition to DWI arrests, local and state law enforcement officers issued 105,666 traffic and criminal citations statewide. They issued 9,568 safety belt and 1,376 child passenger safety violations; 29,184 speeding violations; and 3,185 drug charges. In addition, they apprehended 2,938 fugitives from justice and recovered 173 stolen vehicles.