Illinois officials and local law enforcement agencies are planning roadside checks to kick off their holiday safe-driving campaign.
The Illinois Department of Transportation, Illinois State Police and hundreds of police and sheriff's departments announced their end-of-year effort on Wednesday.
The campaign will feature the familiar "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" and "Click it or Ticket" themes and include hundreds of roadside checks for drunken driving and safety-belt use through the first weekend of 2014.
Illinois has seen 950 traffic fatalities through December 17 — 20 more than the same period last year. Recently released federal data show drunken driving deaths increased 15% from 2011 to 2012.
But it also shows a drop of 29% since 2007 — from 439 to 321 in 2012.