Letter from the Director

Dear Traffic Safety Partner:

Illinois is on a mission to reduce fatalities, injuries and the economic costs associated with motor vehicle crashes. This DriveSoberIllinois website is just another tool to assist in that effort.

Even with big reductions in motor vehicle fatalities in recent years, the fact is that alcohol-related traffic fatalities have reached a plateau. Far too many people continue to die on Illinois roadways each year at the hands of an impaired driver.

According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates, in 1994, 44 percent of the 1,554 fatalities on Illinois roads involved a driver with alcohol in his or her system. In 2007, that number was 47 percent.

It is not just in Illinois. Impaired driving remains one of America’s most-often-committed and deadliest crimes. In 2006, over 17,000 people were killed in highway crashes involving a driver or motorcycle operator with alcohol in his or her system.

Alcohol, drugs and driving just do not mix, and Illinois’ You Drink & Drive. You Lose. program will continue to focus on those who simply do not understand that impaired driving is not acceptable. These individuals must understand that state and local police throughout Illinois will be looking for them, and that new laws like the mandatory ignition interlock law for first-time DUI offenders mean Illinois is firmly committed to the battle against impaired driving.

Within this website you will find numerous impaired driving resources, and as time passes we will add more. We want to make it as useful a resource as possible to fight impaired driving here in Illinois.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Division of Traffic Safety at Drive.sober@illinois.gov .

Sincerely,

Michael R. Stout
Director