By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – The message has always been the same – don’t drink and drive. However, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) says it’s still a problem, especially over longer holidays.
Shannon Alderman, Impaired Driver Coordinator with IDOT, DUI cases, are down over recent years, but that comes with stepped-up enforcement.
“We have to continue to remind people, unfortunately, getting behind the wheel after having too much to drink, or now with marijuana being legal here in Illinois, after using marijuana. It’s just a combination that doesn’t work, and it still kills around 300 people here on our roadways in Illinois.”
This week Dezel Dotts, a 26-year old Bloomington man, died from his injuries after being hit by an alleged drunk driver.
Speaking with WJBC’s Scott Miller, Alderman said thanks to public service announcements (PSA’s) and rideshares, DUI arrests are down over the past several years.
“They have. But the thing about really looking at traffic, you got to look at trends. When you look at a few months or even a couple of years in time, it doesn’t always give you the whole picture. So, if you go back about three decades, there were so many more people killed in impaired driving crashes, just alcohol crashes alone. So yes, we have done much better. The stepped-up enforcement, the messaging, the awareness that driving drunk is no longer cool.”
According to a study in 2020 by the U.S. Department of Transportation and FBI crime statistics, Illinois was ranked 49th out of 50 states for the lowest DUI arrest per 100,000 people.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
