Local law enforcement are gearing up for increased patrolling Sunday night for New Year’s Eve.

Katan Parker, public affairs officer for Kentucky State Police Post 3, said the agency plans to have around five troopers on patrol on New Year’s Eve. Additionally, KSP will set up DUI checkpoints on interstates, highways and on city and county roads.

Parker said the ultimate goal of these measures is to keep drivers and the public safe during the celebrations.

“We try to get off the interstate every now and then and get on the back roads where people don’t usually expect to see law enforcement,” Parker said.

Parker said that while law enforcement agencies do not work together to coordinate patrolling on New Year’s Eve, KSP will help out city police officers if the need arises.

“If I’m patrolling the road and I see a BGPD unit or a sheriff’s deputy on the side of the road, I’ll stop and make sure they’re OK and just let them know I have their back,” Parker said.

Bowling Green Department Public Information Officer Ronnie Ward said like KSP, BGPD will be setting up rolling patrols around Bowling Green on New Year’s Eve.

“We just do everything we can do to keep the roads safe for all those driving,” Ward said.

Ward said it is hard to determine an exact number of how many drivers are intoxicated on a typical New Year’s Eve, since it depends on law enforcement being able to apprehend them.

Weather is a large factor in the rates of New Year’s Eve DUI rates, too, Ward said. If the weather is poor that night, less people will be out celebrating.

The current forecast for Sunday is for partly sunny skies with lows in the upper 20s.

Car accidents involving an alcohol-impaired driver kill one person every 45 minutes across the United States, or 32 people every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than 13,000 people were killed in drunk driving accidents nationwide in 2021, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration. Drunk driving accounted for 31% of all fatal car accidents nationwide as well.