AUGUSTA — Rockland and Rockport Police departments, and Knox and Waldo County Sheriff's departments are joining Maine State Police and 47 other county and municipal law enforcement agencies in sharing federal grant monies to step up enforcement of drunk and impaired driving enforcement laws.

As of noon on the last day of 2012, highway deaths for the year stand at 164.

Fifty-two law enforcement agencies are sharing more than $440,000 in funding in a statewide effort to combat drunk and impaired driving, according to a press release from the state Department of Public Safety. The state Bureau of Highway Safety distribute the federal money this month and launched a program called, "DriveSober Maine!"

"Alcohol-related traffic deaths doubled in the first six months of 2012 with 32 OUI deaths, compared to 15 deaths during the same period I 2011. The numbers were alarming and a call to action," said Lauren Stewart, director of the Maine Bureau of Highway Safety.

The money will be used by law enforcement agencies to combat impaired driving by conducting overtime patrols at times and locations where impaired driving is most common, according to the release.

"Highway Safety is partnering with Maine police to make our communities safer. Local law enforcement know their communities and know when and where an impaired driver is likely to be," said Stewart in the release.

The DriveSober Maine! effort kicked off Dec. 1 and runs through Labor Day 2013. In addition, special holiday enforcement crackdown began Dec. 14 and goes through New Year's Day, Jan. 1. The holiday effort coincides with a national campaign, funded by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"No one ever thinks that their holiday celebration will end in jail, in a hospital or in the morgue," said Stewart. "But combining alcohol and driving can lead to one of those three locations. That's why we are stepping up enforcement of impaired drivers."

The Bureau of Highway Safety offers the following tips.

• Be responsible. If you will be drinking, plan not to drive. Designate a sober driver or find another way home by using a taxi or public transportation, if available, calling a sober friend or family member, or plan to spend the night.

• Watch out for others. If someone you know is drinking, do not let them get behind the wheel. If you see an impaired driver on the road, contact police. Your action may save someone's life.