The Iowa State Patrol and county and local agencies will continue special traffic enforcement efforts through the Christmas travel time. Iowa Department of Public Safety Commissioner Kevin Techau says one of the key things they look for is drunken driving.
Techau says if you’re going drive over the legal alcohol limit, you’re going to be under arrest. Techau says those who drive impaired caused far too many tragedies, things that can be prevented. Techau says drivers can do a lot to help prevent traffic deaths — using their seatbelts for example.
Techau says the state is up to 90-percent seatbelt usage and he says over the last eight the D-O-T estimates 25-hundred lives were save by seatbelts and seven-thousand since the seatbelt law went into effect in 1986. Techau says the tougher blood alcohol limit helped cut alcohol-related deaths.
Techau says when the limit went down to .08 the next two years there was a 34-percent reduction in alcohol-related traffic fatalities. Techau says the extra efforts to stop traffic fatalities do pay off, and that’s why they’re not letting up.
Techau says there will be over 400 traffic deaths again this year, and he says that’s too many. He says there’s no excuse for the 85 alcohol-realted traffic deaths, because someone made a decision to drink and drive. Law officers will patrol the most heavily traveled roadways where they’ve seen problems in the past.