Drunksgiving. Blackout Wednesday. The day before Thanksgiving has a couple of names associated with what has traditionally become one of the busiest bar nights of the year - and one of the most dangerous nights of the year on the roadways.
It also kicks off the holiday season and Minnesota is ready to crackdown on drunk drivers. And a Woodbury Police officer is also sharing his story of being hit by a drunk driver in the hopes that it can serve as a lesson for others.
Allen Olson still uses crutches to walk, still recalling vividly what it was like when he was hit by a car while on an ATV with his son last summer in Itasca County.
"I can you hear Jacob screaming. He had a huge laceration and open wound to his arm," explained Olson
He was also badly injured.
"My femur had gone up and, like I said, broken my hip, which was keeping me from walking," he said.
Olson is calling on all Minnesotans to drive sober and save lives during this holiday season’s extra impaired driving enforcement campaign.
"He impacted us on the side of the four wheeler," Olson told WCCO. "Where my left leg was. It end up taking my left femur and pushing it into and through my left hip."
Olson joined the Minnesota Department of Public Safety’s Office of Traffic Safety to announce a statewide campaign starting with this holiday week, with extra officers on the roads.