Memorial Day is typically one of the safest holiday weekends on Iowa roads. But Jim Saunders with the Iowa Department of Public Safety says it could always be safer. "Last year during the Memorial Day weekend there were three fatalities," says Saunders, "and obviously our goal is always to have that number be zero."
Saunders says there will be additional law enforcement on the roads today through Monday. Saunders says, "The entire intent here is to focus on roadways where we see a lot of travel and a lot of accidents, and focus on those violations that cause those accidents." Saunders insists the extra law enforcement presence this weekend isn’t about issuing more tickets.
Saunders explains, "Our goal isn’t to see how many tickets we can write, our goal is preventing people from committing the violations in the first place, because then that will result in lower accidents, injuries, and fatalities." Saunders says there have been 11 fewer traffic fatalities this year, compared to this time last year. He gives some of the credit to more Iowans wearing their seat belt.