In Illinois, Statewide Impaired Driving Safety Summit

SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich announced that the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is bringing together law enforcement officials, judges, traffic safety advocates and substance abuse prevention experts in a statewide driving safety summit designed to step up the state’s efforts to reduce fatalities caused by impaired drivers. The summit will be held at IDOT headquarters in Springfield.

Illinois is one of the first states in the nation to hold a statewide impaired driving summit in the wake of a National Summit in March hosted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Leaders of the National Summit urged states to hold similar summits at the statewide level.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in Illinois to reduce overall traffic fatalities by 100 a year,” Governor Blagojevich said. “But unfortunately, some still aren’t getting the message. Impaired drivers account for 45 percent of the fatalities on our roadways. This summit will give our police and traffic safety advocates – those on the front line of this battle – the chance to learn about and to implement new strategies to make roads safer.”

“IDOT is proud to host this statewide summit on impaired driving,” said IDOT Secretary Timothy W. Martin. “As a result of innovative ideas and knowledgeable presenters from Illinois and around the country gathering here this week, we hope to enlighten and educate the participants in order to have a positive impact on the impaired driving problem in Illinois.”