With the long weekend upon us, it is worth mentioning that law enforcement agencies statewide will be participating in the first statewide "DWI No Refusal" weekend. Police are taking seriously the fact that the Fourth of July is, statistically, the holiday with the greatest number of alcohol-related fatal crashes.

During a no refusal period, individuals who refuse to provide police a blood sample will be arrested, put in jail, and faced with a warrant from a judge allowing police to take it. Approximately 214 law enforcement agencies across Texas will be participating in the DWI effort to keep drunken drivers off the road.

According to sources, increased patrols were scheduled for June 27 through July 6. Police will be keeping their eyes open for failure to wear seatbelts, excessive speeding, aggressive driving, and signs of impairment. Last year, law enforcement arrested 617 individuals for DWI, issued 8,882 speeding tickets and 1,600 tickets for seat belt and child safety seat violations.

The Texas Department of Public Safety also asked drivers to refrain from throwing cigarettes from their vehicle and parking their vehicle in grass, two known fire hazards.

Laura Dean-Mooney of Mothers Against Drunk Driving praised the statewide effort, saying "Unfortunately, as a Texas, I'm very embarrassed to say that Texas leads the nation in drunk driving fatalities, but I'm very excited to say as a proud Texan that Texas is the first state to do statewide, no refusal efforts to stop DWI."

Sources said that statistics from the past 25 years reveal that almost half of all fatal accident during the Fourth of July weekend are alcohol-related.

Source: yourhoustonnews.com, "Agencies join in statewide July 4th DWI crackdown," 30 June 2011.