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Orange County Sheriff Carl DuBois announced that his office will participate in the “Empty Chair Teen Initiative” from April 23 through April 27 in an effort to curtail drunk or distracted driving amongst local teens celebrating several school events.
According to a statement released by the Sheriff’s Office, “each year, thousands of high school students across New York State look forward to attending their prom and graduation ceremonies.
“These memorable moments for parents, siblings, educators and the community, become meaningless when a child dies in a car crash.”
In an effort to curtail such incidents, the Governor’s Traffic Safety Committee launched “The Empty Chair” campaign, which is an effort to “symbolize the missing high school senior on graduation day.”
As part of the special enforcement, the Sheriff’s Office will assign patrols to focus on traffic safety threats in the area of high schools throughout Orange County, which will be “aggressively enforcing infractions” that include cell phone use, speeding in school zones, seatbelt use, child restraint use, underage drinking and impaired driving laws.
DuBois said that “it is the goal of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, through this enforcement, to ensure students are alive to attend their graduations and proms.”
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