U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters today urged the nation's drivers not to drink and drive over the holiday weekend, warning that law enforcement will be out patrolling the streets and will be taking offenders to jail.

"The 4th of July is cause for celebration, but no day is a day to drink and drive," Secretary Peters said.

The Secretary emphasized that drinking and driving would get drivers a one-way ticket to jail. "Losing your freedom is no way to celebrate our nation's independence," she added.

In 2006, over 13,000 people died in alcohol-related crashes nationwide, meaning alcohol was a factor in 39 percent of traffic deaths that year, Secretary Peters said. In South Carolina over 1,000 people died on state roads, and 420 fatalities were alcohol related, almost half of the total deaths. The alcohol-related fatality rate in South Carolina is nearly twice the national average, she said.

The Secretary noted the Department invests $40 million a year to sponsor a national advertising campaign alerting motorists to the increased enforcement and to help local law enforcement run check points.

Last year, nearly 500 potentially life-saving drunk driving arrests were made in Charleston, almost two-and-a-half times the arrests made in 2006, she said.