MIDLAND, Texas — Law enforcement are on high alert with DUIs on the rise in the Permian Basin, especially over the holiday weekend.
Just this week, we learned of a fourth person who died in a single crash involving a drunk driver in Odessa.
Since the beginning of the year, Odessa has seen 215 DWI arrests.
"We would hope that the numbers would drop," Oscar Villarreal, DPS safety education officer said. "We would hope that people would voluntarily comply with the law."
The Department of Public Safety is taking action to prevent more of these drunk driving accidents.
"Operation care, we focus on three things: Speed, seatbelts and DWIs," Villarreal said. "When we have a holiday operation, it's everything in general. That doesn't mean if we see something working, either operation other than those things, that we're not going to enforce it."
On top of having more troopers on the roads, they'll be focusing specifically on these three violations because they tend to see more of them over holiday weekends.
"If you're going to a celebration where you're going to be having some drinks, make sure you prearrange transportation or you use public transportation, a bus, a cab, uber, lyft, something like that," Villarreal said.
No one wants tragedy on a weekend meant for full-blown celebration.
"The last thing we want to do is knock on your door and tell your loved one you didn't come home or have to arrest somebody, put them in jail, because they made a bad decision," Villarreal said. "Don't drink and drive. Potentially on a weekend, a holiday weekend the risk goes up greatly."
Troopers encourage you to drive defensively, buckle up and if you see something suspicious, report it.