A group of Iowa State troopers is going on the overnight shift for the next three months, starting Tuesday, not as punishment but as part of a special anti-drunk program. Patrol spokesman Lieutenant Robert Hansen says the 18 troopers will be working roughly 6 P.M. to 3 A.M. through June. Hansen says they will concentrate their patrols in areas that statistics show are deadly in terms of alcohol-related accidents and arrests. He says the goal will be to reduce fatalities and serious-injury accidents as a result of drunk driving. Hansen says it’s shocking to see the reports comparing how few young drivers are on the road, compared to how much trouble they cause. Drivers aged 16-to-24 make up only 16-percent of the registered drivers in Iowa but Hansen says they’re involved in more than 40-percent of the alcohol-related crashes. This is the third time Iowa troopers have focused on a special three-month enforcement action on drunk drivers. During the previous two efforts, alcohol-related deaths dropped by almost 50-percent and drunk or drugged arrests rose by more than 250-percent.
