But local safety experts want to remind everyone that police officers are “cracking down on drunk driving.”
According to the Safety Council of Southwestern Ohio, 1,698 people were killed in vehicle crashes nationwide between Dec. 12 to 31 in 2012, and 31 percent of those fatalities were in drunk driving crashes.
“It’s time for all drivers to get the message, that drunk driving isn’t a victimless crime,” said Joslynn Pretty, Safety Council of Southwestern Ohio, in a statement. “You could kill yourself or someone else, or get a DUI and go to jail.”
Sue Rhoads’ family knows the pain and the feeling of emptiness after her son-in-law Stacy Moermond Jr., 23, of Hamilton, was struck by a drunk driver while he was putting gas into his broken-down Jeep on Ohio 63 and East Avenue in Monroe.
“If you choose to drink that’s one thing, but don’t drive. Call a cab, call a friend, designate a driver. Don’t make the choice that man made,” Rhoads said.
Moermond was returning from his uncle’s home with his two sons, Nathan and Stephen, then 6 and 1, when he ran out of gas. The deadly accident happened on June 19, 2010 — Father’s Day Weekend.
Both boys survived the crash but Rhoads says the emotional scars are still there.
“They saw their dad die that night,” she said. “This accident was something that could’ve been prevented.”
The man who struck Moermond, Curtis Ward, of Franklin, had two previous convictions for operating a vehicle while impaired. He was sentenced to seven years in prison, one year short of the maximum. He was convicted of two counts of OVI and aggravated vehicular homicide after pleading no contest to the charges. He also received a lifetime license suspension from Butler County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Nastoff.
He is scheduled to be released on June 1, 2017.
Pretty warns drivers if you’re caught drinking and driving you could face jail time, loss of your driver’s license and other DUI expenses, which on average totals $10,000. She says some falsely believe if they get pulled over for driving drunk they can just refuse a breath test to avoid a DUI charge.
“In most jurisdictions, refusing a breath test means an automatic arrest and loss of your driver’s license on the spot,” said Pretty. “It’s heartbreaking to drive up to a house all decorated for the holidays and knock on the door to deliver such terrible news. So leading up to the holidays, we are really cracking down and we will show zero tolerance for drunk drivers on the road.”
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