Police will be out in force over holiday weekend

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By Thomas Geyer | Thursday, August 28, 2008 11:33 PM CDT | () comments

A national campaign against drunken driving that began earlier in August will continue through the Labor Day holiday weekend with more police hitting the roadways to get impaired drivers off the road.

“We started this enforcement project Aug. 18,” said Jessica Lown, spokeswoman for the Iowa State Patrol. She added that the program is running nationwide.

“We do these S.T.E.P. enforcements four times a year. We’ll do another one over the Thanksgiving holiday.” S.T.E.P. stands for Special Traffic Enforcement Patrols.

The national campaign, known as “Over the Limit, Under Arrest,” has been advertised on television. The campaign is an initiative of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Not only state police, but city and county agencies are involved, too.

“Every cop is looking for a drunk driver,” Lown said. “There are hundreds and hundreds of law enforcement officers focusing on this and there will be through the end of the year as the holiday season approaches.”

There are more man hours and more bodies available during peak travel periods due to additional funding that is made available, she said.

Randy Hunefeld, the S.T.E.P. coordinator with the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, said that with the increased patrols and focused enforcement across Iowa, “the odds of getting arrested for drunk driving or receiving a traffic ticket are greatly increased.”

He added that alcohol-related traffic deaths have risen in Iowa for three consecutive years, finishing 2007 with 111, up 40 percent from the all-time low of

78 set in 2004.

Lown said that those attending tailgate parties for the Iowa, Iowa State and University of Northern Iowa Football games should known that Iowa State troopers direct traffic at the games and will not hesitate to get a drunk driver off the road.

In Illinois, $1 million has been provided to law enforcement agencies statewide to pay for overtime for officers who are assigned to crack down on drunk drivers.

Locally, Illinois State Police will have a roadside safety checkpoint set up in Rock Island County tonight.

“We have zero tolerance for drunk drivers in Illinois,” said Illinois State Police Director Larry Trent.

Gas prices down

Just in time for Labor Day, gasoline prices have dropped considerably over the past several weeks as the price of oil has dipped.

A gallon of regular unleaded was selling Thursday for an average of $3.66 in the Iowa Quad-Cities, according to a report issued by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service, or OPIS. That same gallon of gas cost an average of $3.87 a month ago, but it was $2.87 a year ago.

In the Illinois Quad-Cities, a gallon of regular unleaded was selling for an average of $3.78. That same gallon cost an average of $4.02 a month ago, but $2.94 a year ago.

Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.