A Holiday Crackdown On Drunk Drivers Is Underway [AUDIO]

Drive sober or get pulled over. That's the message from New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow and Acting Director of the Division of Highway Traffic Safety Gary Poedubicky who have announced the launch of a stepped-up holiday drunk driving enforcement campaign.

The campaign will provide federal grants of $5,000 to 98 law enforcement agencies throughout the state to implement the impaired driving enforcement initiative. "They will be conducting saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints looking for motorists who may be driving while intoxicated," said Poedubicky. "The enforcement crackdown will run until January 2."

This year's initiative will target 18-34 year-old males, the most at-risk demographic. In 2010, 73 drivers in that age group died in alcohol-related crashes in New Jersey. Sixty-one of them, or 84 percent, were male. "Overall, 80 percent of drunk driving fatalities in the Garden State were male-related last year," said Poedubicky.

There is no reason to become a statistic. "Before drinking, designate a sober driver and if you are impaired, call a taxi or a friend or family member who can get you home safely," he said.

Last winter, the crackdown resulted in 2,115 DWI arrests, up from 1,959 in 2009.