ALBANY, N.Y. - Albany County law enforcement stepped up efforts to keep drunk drivers off the streets, and it seems their efforts are showing some positive results.
Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple was joined by Albany Police, District Attorney David Soares and other county officials Thursday morning to announce the results of the latest STOP DWI campaign from the Labor Day holiday weekend DWI patrol in Albany County, showing 17 DWI arrests after nearly 600 vehicles were stopped.
Two positive points made Thursday were that drunk driving is down and the number of designated drivers is on the rise, according to the latest results. This is being attributed to increased county efforts with programs like the Designated Driver initiative, asking people to sign up to stay sober and there is also a cab voucher option.
In the past nine months, nearly 2,600 people have signed up to be designated drivers at different events like concerts and sporting events.
Sheriff Apple says he hopes this trend of safe decision making continues. "The number was down which tells me people are making responsible decisions during the holidays. Now we need to extend that to make them throughout the rest of the year."
Every official at Thursday morning's news conference agreed that the trends are positive, but no one will be completely satisfied until the number of DWI accidents and arrests is zero.
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