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Courtesy of WYFF.com
GREENVILLE, S.C. - Numbers were released on Friday on the DUI crackdown during the New Year's holiday, and they're not what the South Carolina Highway Patrol expected.
Year after year, the number of those charged with driving under the influence during the holiday has increased -- but not this year.
According to the SCHP, in the first few hours of 2008, there were 32 DUI arrests made in the Upstate. In 2009, there were 22.
"Just from what we've seen, the traffic wasn't as great as it was last year," said Kathy Hiles, of the SCHP.
Also in the Upstate, there were 18 DUI collisions a year ago on New Year's Eve. This past holiday, there were only nine.
"We do like to see our numbers decrease," Hiles said.
Troopers attributed less wrecks and fewer arrests to the ailing economy.
"We do think the economy did help us in that way, in that a lot of people did stay home, visited with friends, they didn't travel as far or went to major events," Hiles said.
The fear was, Hiles said, that the downturn in the economy would have done the opposite, but it didn't. Officers said, for that, they are thankful.
Troopers said they are actually making more and more DUI arrests at unusual times of the day -- like in the morning and around lunchtime.
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