Oklahoma Law Enforcement Officers To Crack Down On Drunk Drivers

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says a third of the deaths on national roadways in 2010 were alcohol related.

That means there's a drunk driving death every 51 minutes in the U.S.

Law enforcement agencies across the country, including Oklahoma, will be cracking down on the upcoming Labor Day holiday to try to keep these numbers from getting worse.

The NHTSA's report showed that 20- to 24-year-olds are most likely to be involved in drunk driving deaths.  And even though the number of alcohol-related traffic deaths dropped about five percent from 2009 to 2010, the NHTSA says the problem isn't getting any better.

"New agency statistics released today show that 70 percent of deaths in drunk driving crashes in 2010 involved drivers with a blood alcohol level that was nearly twice the legal limit," said David Strickland, NHTSA Administrator.

In 2010 in Oklahoma, 33 percent of those killed in traffic-related deaths, 220 people, had a blood alcohol content of .08 or higher.  That year, 668 people died in traffic crashes across the state.

Look at the NHTSA's numbers.

The "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" crackdown begins this Friday and runs through September 3rd.