NEW YORK STATE – New York State Police issued 8,762 tickets and arrested 154 people for DWI during this year’s Labor Day weekend DWI enforcement period. The initiative, which targeted impaired and reckless drivers, began on Friday, September 1, 2023, and continued through the Labor Day holiday, Monday, September 4, 2023.

During the campaign, which was funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee, the New York State Police increased patrols and conducted sobriety checkpoints to deter, identify and arrest impaired drivers. In addition to the DWI checkpoints and patrols, Troopers were also watching for distracted drivers, vehicle occupants who were not properly buckled up, and drivers that were violating the Move Over Law.

As part of the enforcement, Troopers also targeted speeding and aggressive drivers across the state. Below is a sampling of the total tickets that were issued during this period:

Speeding: 3,407

Distracted Driving: 203

Seatbelt violations: 383

Move Over Law: 126

Troopers used both marked State Police vehicles and Concealed Identity Traffic Enforcement (CITE) vehicles as part of this crackdown in order to more easily identify motorists who are violating the law. CITE vehicles allow the Trooper to better observe driving violations.  These vehicles blend in with everyday traffic but are unmistakable as emergency vehicles once the emergency lighting is activated.

Over the 2022 Labor Day weekend, which ran from September 2, 2022, to September 5, 2022, Troopers arrested 208 people for DWI and investigated 139 personal injury crashes, including three fatalities, and issued 9,748 tickets.

– Information from the NYSP