State and federal officials announce the delivery of 1,758 portable breath tests to assist 150 local law-enforcement agencies across Indiana.
The breathalyzers were purchased with just over $750,000 in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration impaired-driving funds administered by the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute.
Law-enforcement officers are receiving the new mouthpieces and gas canisters used to calibrate the readings. The new devices include passive sniffers that can sense alcohol in the air around a person or an open container. Over the coming year, an additional $310,000 is budgeted to purchase 725 breathalyzers for Indiana State Police posts.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grants administered by the criminal justice institute will fund overtime patrols leading up to – and through – the Thanksgiving travel holiday. More than 230 law-enforcement agencies across Indiana will be conducting sobriety checkpoints, roving patrols and saturation patrols.
In every state and the District of Columbia, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol concentration of .08 or higher. In Indiana, drivers under 21 with a BAC of .02 or higher are subject to fines and a license suspension for up to 1 year.
Police will be arresting impaired drivers and aggressively targeting those who put lives in danger. A DUI arrest means going to jail and losing your driver’s license.
The average DUI cost? About $10,000, including car towing and repairs, attorney fees, fines, court costs, lost time at work and other hefty expenses.
