(Spirit Lake)– Look for some extra law enforcement on the roads over the Labor Day holiday weekend. Kevin Krull of the Iowa State Patrol says they are once again partnering with the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau and local authorities for a special enforcement campaign…
“It’s truly the last big hurrah and you know it’s a three-day weekend and most people try to make it a four-day weekend if they can. But the State Patrol is going to be out there working the roadways trying to keep everybody safe, reminding them to slow down and put the phone down, seat belt on, and avoid that impaired driving. And we’re going to be partnering with our local law enforcement partners.”
Krull says non-compliance with Iowa’s hands-free law continues to be an issue…
“This is one of those areas citation-wise, since January 1st, we’ve issued 11,000 citations for this violation, just over 11,000, and we’ve had just over 9,000 warnings for this violation since January. So we’re asking people to take that time and set up their hands-free so they can drive distracted-free, or free from those distractions of the cell phone at least, because there’s so many distractions that are already out there, and we want everybody’s full attention on that rather than having that phone in their hand causing problems.”
And if alcohol is in your plans for this final holiday of the summer, Krull has this advice…
“Party responsibly, have that sober driver, get to your destination, but have those plans to get there, and home, safely. That’s all we’re asking. We want everybody to be safe, try to keep these fatalities down, make it a memorable, in a good way, holiday weekend.”
The special enforcement campaign continues now through Labor Day itself.
