Chief Joseph O’Connor would like to notify the public that the Concord Police Department will be participating in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign to reduce impaired driving over the holidays.
From Dec. 1 to Dec. 31, Concord Police will be using grant funding from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to fund high-visibility patrols and traffic enforcement across the community.
Patrols will be spread throughout the month, but police will place special emphasis on patrolling from Thursday through Sunday between the hours of 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Statewide data shows those are the days and times when most crashes caused by impaired driving occur.
“Deaths and serious injuries suffered as a result of crashes involving impaired drivers are particularly tragic because they are preventable. All it takes to save a life is a decision to not get behind the wheel if you’re impaired,” said Chief O’Connor. “I hope drivers take note of our high-visibility patrols and remember that we will be watching out for impaired drivers, and ready to hold those we find behind the wheel fully accountable for placing so many others at risk.”
The Concord Police Department is using $4,800 of a $30,000 grant to fund the patrols, with the rest of the grant going toward additional campaigns that will be focused on distracted driving, seat belt usage, speeding enforcement, and impaired driving in the summer.
The NHTSA grant is part of $5 million in grants being distributed statewide by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Safety and Security’s Office of Grants and Research, with the overall program aimed at reducing the average number of motor vehicle and pedestrian fatalities by 3 percent, serious injury crashes by 8 percent, and bicyclist fatalities by 10 percent by the end of 2022.