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COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- You've seen the commercials, heard the campaigns police and sheriff's agencies statewide are on the lookout for people driving under the influence. Law enforcement is taking an aggressive stance with checkpoints, saturation patrols and increased DUI officers.

But motorists aren't heading the warning, and 30,000 people are arrested for impaired driving each year. It's an expensive mistake that can cost you your job and your life.

"What do you value more? A glass of beer or your freedom," Roy Rall, a AAA Treatment director, said.

Rall knows the effects of a DUI all to well. He's received 10 convictions, the last one in 1979 with a blood alcohol concentration of .29 - more than double the legal limit.

"Everything was falling apart. It was just time before my wife left me, my children left me," Rall said.

Rall has since sobered up and started an alcohol treatment center trying to help other people caught driving under the influence.

If you're convicted of a DUI, you face a long road of consequences including: imprisonment, probation, a class II misdemeanor, loss of your license or ignition interlock.

"I don't know if people realize all the potential ramifications and cost," Norm Thom, a DUI defense attorney with Liberty Law, said.

Thom is a DUI defense attorney with more than 30 years of experience. His firm sees on average 150-200 DUI clients a year. The majority are first time offenders that according to the Colorado Department of Transportation will pay more than $10,000 in fees. But even after you've paid your last fine there's no guarantee you'll keep your job.

"The employer says that's a problem for us that you got a DUI, and it can cause people to lose their jobs," Thom said.

You have to make a decision and determine whether that next drink you order at the bar is worth the risk.