May 5, Cinco de Mayo is Monday, and Missoula police will have extra patrols on the road from Saturday though Monday, looking for drunk drivers.

According to Sergeant Greg Amundsen, from 2008 to 2012, 233 people were killed in impaired driving crashes on Cinco de Mayo (6 p.m. May 4 to 5:59 a.m. May 6). In 2012, almost half (45 percent) of all traffic crash fatalities on Cinco de Mayo involved impaired driving.

The Missoula Police Department is joining with others across the state and nation to remind party-goers that drunk driving should never be part of your Cinco de Mayo plans. The Missoula Police Departments extra patrols will begin on Saturday, May 3 and conclude Monday, May 5.

Every 51 minutes in 2012, someone was killed in an impaired driving crash in the United States, and 89 of those fatalities were around Cinco de Mayo. In fact, from 2011 to 2012, the number of people killed in impaired driving crashes on Cinco de Mayo more than doubled. In all fatal crashes in 2012, seventy-one percent of the impaired drivers involved had blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) of .15 or higher—almost twice the legal limit.

Sergeant Amundsen reminds party-goers that impaired driving is never the answer, and there’s always another option. If you are going to drink at all on Cinco de Mayo, designate a sober driver, because Buzzed Driving Is Drunk Driving.

 

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