© 2024 Wyoming Public Media
800-729-5897 | 307-766-4240
Wyoming Public Media is a service of the University of Wyoming
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Transmission & Streaming Disruptions

New ads meant to deter drunk driving

The Governor’s Council on Impaired Driving kicked-off a new anti-drunk-driving ad campaign this week, featuring print, radio and television ads that tell the story of the eight University of Wyoming Cross-country runners who were killed by a drunk driver south of Laramie in 2001.

Their deaths marked the single most fatal drunk driving accident in state history.

Council Co-chair and Natrona County District Attorney, Mike Blonigen says that the campaign can be summed up by the final line of its print ad: “Drunk driving kills; Stop driving drunk.”

Even when unharmed physically, according to Blonigen, drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents are often overwhelmed by the harm they’ve caused.

“I see these people in court and 98% of the folks involved in serious injury or death DUI’s, those people are devastated too,” says Blonigen “because they didn’t mean to hurt anybody. They really didn’t. And that remorse is genuine. The problem is, it’s too late.”

50 people per year have died in Wyoming due to alcohol related car crashes over the past 12 years. However officials say those numbers have declined over the last two years.  Blonigen says that while public awareness of impaired driving has increased in recent years, the average drunk driver in the state still has a blood alcohol content that is twice the legal driving limit.

Originally from Chester County, PA, Jordan Harper comes to us by way of the South Carolina Low-Country and Coastal Carolina University. He is a junior majoring in journalism and hopes to one day become a reporter. When not in the office or in the classroom, Jordan enjoys the occasional yoga session and playing rugby with the University's club team. A life long NPR listener and avid WPR fan since first landing in Laramie, Harper begrudgingly admitted to being somewhat star-struck upon his first tour of Laramie's WPR facility.
Related Content