Nearly 2,000 motorists were handed tickets for various traffic violations by Iowa State Patrol troopers over the Independence Day holiday weekend.

Captain Mike Winter says the enforcement effort was designed to cut down on the number of accidents. “We issued 1,976 traffic citations this holiday weekend. Part of that included 38 drunk drivers who were arrested and taken off the road,” Winter said.

Preliminary figures from the Iowa Department of Transportation show traffic crashes between Friday and Monday claimed the lives of four people. Winter says most motorists are keeping safe by wearing seat belts. “We wrote 28 seat belt citations and 10 child restraint citations,” Winter said.

Troopers also issued 1,941 warnings, 952 speeding tickets, 777 equipment violations, 21 tickets for open containers of alcohol and 14 citations to minors for possessing alcohol. The statistics do not include tickets written by city and county law enforcement officers.