December 7, 2020 10:50 a.m. 

During this holiday season, staff with the Roseburg Police are teaming up with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for the national Buzzed Driving is Drunk Driving highway awareness campaign to keep impaired drivers off the road.

Sergeant Jeff Eichenbusch said this month officers are working additional shifts, specifically to focus on stopping impaired drivers. Eichenbusch said those shifts are being made available through a grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation and Oregon Impact.

Eichenbusch said according to the NHTSA, 839 people lost their lives in traffic crashes involving a drunk driver in December of 2018. He said during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday periods that year alone, there were more drunk-driving related fatalities than during any other holiday period that year.