The 4th of July celebrations are expected to draw a lot of people, which means it will be one of the busiest holidays to manage for the law enforcement officers in the Metro Houston Area.

Law agencies and officers will be on high alert to check for impaired drivers on the roads. If caught, you will be required to take a sobriety test and, in extreme cases, hire a Houston DWI lawyer to bail you out. The sobriety tests will examine the level of alcohol in the driver’s body and determine if legal prosecution is required.

Sean Teare, the Harris County Assistant District Attorney, issued a statement saying, “The best-case scenario that you can hope for if you make that bad decision to get behind the wheel is for one of us to catch you and persecute you and that’s a conviction that will follow you for the rest of your life. You’ll spend $20,000 trying to fight it. Then you’ll have to put it on every single job application. Every apartment application. Everything that you will ever apply for in your life”.

The punishment for drinking and driving can be time in jail for anything up to 180 days and a mandatory conviction of 3 days. Along with that, you also have to pay a fine of $2000 and risk your driver’s license being terminated for a year.

A press conference was held where Chief Deputy Edison Toquica and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office shared some tips with the people about drinking and driving. These were:

● If you are drunk, have a designated driver who is sober to drive you home
● Use cab services
● Under no circumstances, drink and drive

Deputies from the Sheriff’s office have warned that several patrol units will be scavenging the streets at all hours to look for illegal street racers and road rage drivers. Such drivers are mostly drunk and ravage through the streets irresponsibly while racing with one another. In the past, this has led to several accidents where not only the drunk driver has been injured but also other vehicles have had to suffer for no fault of their own.

4th of July is a special day that deserves every bit of celebration by Americans. It is a day of freedom after all. However, this freedom does not entitle the citizens to drive around the streets drunk and injure themselves and others. Responsibility of being the citizen of a great country means caring about the smallest things like driving properly and only when sober.

The law passed this time around is a good sign and a great warning for those who take the risk of drinking and driving. If imposed seriously, as promised by the Houston Officials, it can make a big difference in the rising rate of accidents across the country due to irresponsible driving when drunk. However, the police officials have also requested that the commoners should also be vigilant and avoid such a situation. They should be mindful of not drinking and driving themselves as well as stopping anybody around them from doing the same. A joint effort of the police and the residents of Houston can create a much required difference in the area.