Drinking and Driving Equals Disaster

Mississippi highway patrol officers issued more than 30 thousand DUI citations last year

About 1000 people died from accidents on Mississippi roadways last year, nearly half were alcohol related. MPB's Lawayne Childrey reports how the mix of drinking and driving is a brew for disaster.

While riding a motorcycle down highway 27, Luann Moore of Florence was hit head on by a drunken driver going 55 miles an hour.

“He threw me from my motorcycle and in the process it tore my left foot off.”

That was seven years ago, today Moore walks with a prosthetic and is grateful to be alive. But she still feels for the other victim.
“The gentleman that hit me, he had a case of DUI’s

Last year Mississippi highway patrol officers issued more than 30 thousand tickets to drunken drivers. more than 300 were written by Ridgeland Police Officer, Daniel Soto.

“Most people say that’s had too much drink is I just live just right down the road. And they think they can make it home and many people do make it home. But it could be that mile or half a mile that they wreck and kill themselves or kill someone else.”

Many people believe driving under the influence means only alcohol. But according to Staff Sergeant James Snyder of Troop J in Hattiesburg, a DUI can be written for anything that impairers your ability to drive a motor vehicle.
“Whether it be narcotics or Nyquil or some over popular cold remedy and a lot of the medicines that you take clearly state do not operate a motor vehicle while using this product.”

Even though Mississippi has seen an increase in the number of alcohol related fatalities over the past two years, the Mississippi Office of Highway safety, reports that the state still remains below the national average. For MPB News, I'm Lawayne Childrey.