If you've had something to drink, make sure to find a designated driver.
State Police and local law enforcement agencies will be out in force over the next several days, setting up sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols to deter drunk driving. The St. Patrick's Day STOP-DWI Crackdown will run from March 15-18.
Drivers with a blood alcohol content of 0.08 or higher are over the legal limit. Police will also be cracking down on drivers who are impaired by drugs both illegal and prescription.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), more than 700 people were killed nationwide in crashes involving drunk drivers during the St. Patrick's Day holiday from 2006 to 2010. There were 129 lives lost in 2010 alone.
Someone is killed every 51 minutes, on average, in a drunk-driving crash in the U.S. The majority of these crashes involve drunk drivers who have nearly twice the legal BAC of .08 or higher.
