Law enforcement cracks down on drunk driving with Booze it and Lose it campaign for St. Patrick's Day

Law enforcement officers are monitoring the social district in downtown Raleigh, where people can walk freely in designated spots with drinks in hand. This aims to ensure that individuals do not hit the roads impaired on alcohol or other drugs.

WRAL’s Aaron Thomas went out on patrol with Deputy Beckley Vaughan, of the Wake County Sheriff’s Office, who has been cracking down on irresponsible drivers all week.

“The goal is to prevent people from driving while impaired,” said Vaughan.

He considers St. Patrick’s Day one of the more dangerous days of the year to be on the roads.

During the ride along, within 10 minutes, Vaughan pulled over two drivers on Interstate 40 near the Gorman Street exit for driving 88 miles in a 65 mph zone.

“This is two cars and you can see the second one is following too close,” said Vaughan.

While both drivers were not impaired, they received speeding tickets.

Vaughan said he is not only looking for drivers under the influence of alcohol but also those breaking the speed limit.

Deputies with the Booze It and Lose It Campaign take aggressive driving seriously.

Data obtained by WRAL shows that there were a total of 25 alcohol-related crashes in 2022 in Wake County, with one being deadly.

In 2021, the Wake County Sheriff’s Office responded to one traffic death where alcohol was a factor and another that resulted in serious injury.

The sheriff’s office recorded four alcohol-related crashes leading to serious injury in 2020 and one alcohol-related crash with serious injury in 2019.

When asked about particular challenges and if bad weather, such as rain, stops impaired drivers from getting on the off the road.

Vaughan says, “Bad weather does not stop us … and it doesn’t always stop an impaired driver, but what it does do is increase the risk for an impaired driver to be involved in a collision.”

The campaign runs through Sunday. Vaughan stressed that it’s not just drivers under the influence of alcohol but also those under the influence of opioids or narcotics.

His message: Just don’t do it.