Do your Halloween plans include alcohol?

The Maryland State Police is reminding drivers that troopers will be working additional impaired driving patrols beginning Friday night and continuing through Halloween.

Barracks across Maryland are using impaired driving grant funding from the MDOT/MVA Maryland Highway Safety Office to put additional troopers on the road. These troopers will be saturating areas known to have a higher frequency of impaired driving arrests or crashes. The enforcement focus of the troopers in these patrols will be solely on locating and arresting impaired drivers.

“Our mission includes doing all we can to make Maryland roads safe,” State Police Superintendent Colonel William Pallozzi said. “Knowing the frequency of impaired driving increases during this period, we are increasing our impaired driving patrols as part of our ongoing efforts to protect those traveling on our roads from the deadly threat of impaired drivers. Our troopers are part of a coordinated law enforcement effort statewide to reduce this threat by taking impaired drivers off our roads.”

Saturation patrols for impaired drivers will be unannounced. Locations and times of operations will vary. The additional patrols will start tonight and will occur through October 31st.

Those using alcohol during upcoming celebrations are urged to make plans for a sober driver to take them home before they begin drinking. Multiple transportation options are available for those who will be drinking that keep them from behind the wheel.

It is estimated to cost someone arrested for impaired driving about $10,000 for legal fees, fines, lost wages and multiple other reasons. That cost is just for a simple arrest. If a crash is involved, the cost goes up exponentially, since a price cannot be placed on a life lost.