For the City-Times                                                        

Law enforcement agencies from all over Wisconsin will mobilize for the “Booze and Belts” traffic safety campaign from December 13 – 21. 

The Portage County Sheriff’s Office is one of those agencies that will be a part of this campaign.  In October the Portage County Sheriff’s Office was awarded a grant through the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Bureau of Traffic Safety and the grant period runs until the end of September 2014.  The grant will pay for wages for extra patrols and also for some qualifying equipment used in the mission of traffic safety and as a grant partner we will also place special emphasis on having some extra patrols staffed during mobilization periods.

The goal is to save lives, prevent injuries and hopefully gain voluntary compliance to change behaviors for the better when it comes to making decisions about wearing seat belts and not drinking and driving.  Last year alcohol related crashes took the lives of 223 people in Wisconsin and injured nearly 3,000.

About 27,000 people were convicted for drunk driving in Wisconsin last year and about 105,000 were convicted for failing to wear seat belts.  Unfortunately there are still about 1 in 5 people who do not wear their seat belt in Wisconsin.

Fatal and serious injury crashes at any time of the year are tragic, but such an incident during the holiday season would be even more devastating.  The Sheriff’s Office wants people to enjoy what this holiday season brings, and to consider using a safe ride home, planning for a designated driver, not drinking and driving and having everyone in the vehicle wear a their seat belt all the time.

The ultimate goal is to have the number of preventable traffic deaths reduced to Zero in Wisconsin.  Please continue to visit the Portage County Sheriff’s Office on Facebook for more information.