'Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over' is very personal for this Kansas family

TOPEKA (KSNT) - The holiday season is a reminder to 'Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.'

The Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) and partnering agencies kicked off their holiday impaired driving campaign Wednesday at Washburn University. The goal is to communicate that driving impaired can have deadly consequences.

John and Teresa Groves of Leavenworth experienced those consequences first hand in 2011, when they lost their son, Matt.

"If you know the show Seinfeld, Matt was Kramer," John said. "He loved playing that part, he would just come into a room and crack jokes and all kinds of things. We miss him. We miss him a lot." 

Matt was struck and killed by a drunk driver while trying to help someone in need on the side of the road. He was just 21 years old at the time.

Now, 12 years later, his parents make their voices heard at events all over Northeast Kansas. The Groves' volunteer with the DUI Victims Center of Kansas, the Leavenworth Drug and Alcohol Abuse Council and the Kansas City Metropolitan Crime Commission.

They spoke at KDOT's media event Wednesday morning to kick off this year's campaign.

"We don't charge a penny; I don't want anything," John said. "I want to be able to tell Matt's story and hopefully prevent something like that to happen for somebody else." 

Approximately a third of traffic deaths in the United States involve drunk drivers, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The NHTSA also reported that in 2021, one person was killed in a drunk driving crash every 39 minutes.

"If you're going to drink, we're not telling you not to drink, but have a back-up plan," Teresa said. "Call somebody, have someone call you, call Uber, somebody. Even a relative." 

KDOT and Kansas Highway Patrol enforce impaired driving laws every day, but say officers are on even high alert than normal during the holiday season. The 2023 'Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over' campaign runs from Dec. 13, 2023 through Jan. 1, 2024.

For more resources on impaired driving in Kansas, click here.