DNR’s ‘BAT’ mobile aims to deter drunk driving, boating across SC

CHAPIN, S.C. — Independence Day falls in the midst of what is known as the “100 Deadly Days,” the period during the summer that is more dangerous than normal for drivers, especially younger drivers.

Over the Fourth of July holiday, law enforcement is reminding people on the roads and the water to not get behind the wheel if they have been drinking.

This weekend, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is deploying a tool known as the “B.A.T.” or breath alcohol testing mobile.

It’s a mobile breathalyzer, allowing law enforcement to test suspected impaired drivers and boaters much more quickly than having to take them to a physical site, like a detention center.

DNR takes it all over the state, with the vehicle parked next to Lake Murray in Chapin for the Fourth of July and traveling elsewhere across South Carolina in the coming days.

“People seeing it, knowing that it’s here, that’s a big deterrent for us,” DNR LCPL Tommy Buckhannon said.

South Carolina Highway Patrol will also be out in full force over this holiday period.

SCHP said all troopers are working, stationed every 10 miles along every interstate in South Carolina.

“Last year, we looked back at July 4th, and eight lives were lost on our highways. And we think of a number and say eight, but that’s eight families and eight communities that got the worst news of their life delivered on July 4th. We want to end this holiday period with zero fatalities,” SCHP Trooper David Jones said.

The same goal is shared by Mothers Against Drunk Driving: To keep South Carolina’s roads and waters safe this holiday period.

“We want everyone to just think of summer for all the wonderful things that it is and July 4th for all the wonderful celebration that it can be, and not turned into some terrible memory of a tragedy that occurred on those dates,” MADD Regional Executive Director Steven Burritt said. “We just don’t want people to ever have to go through those things and keep July 4th as the special event that it should be.”

MADD also reminds South Carolinians the consequences have recently increased for people convicted of DUI.

Under a newly implemented state law, anyone convicted of driving over the legal limit, including now all first offenses, will have to temporarily use an ignition interlock device to start their cars.

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