Northwest Iowa — While the number of arrests were down this year during the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau’s St. Patrick’s Day special Traffic Enforcement Period, the news was not as good about a localized enforcement effort.
That’s from Iowa State Patrol Trooper Kevin Krull. He tells us that since the St. Patrick’s Day holiday was in the middle of the week, people didn’t have as much of a chance to extend their partying into the weekend, so that could be why arrests were down.
But Krull tells us another enforcement effort they had did yield some results.
(as said) “We did that Highway 75 and Highway 18 project over there in Lyon and Sioux counties. The speeds were very very high. And in response of them, we were very busy with our activities and having to stop and talk to people. We had a lot of people following too close. We didn’t get the chance to address all those violations at the time and we had quite a few not wearing their seat belts, but the distracted driving…We had people that were texting and driving. So we need to get that message out there and reiterate. We will definitely be back over with some high-intensity projects in that area.”
Krull says they’re considering appealing to the younger generation to see if they can save some lives that way.
(as said) “…talk to those younger individuals that aren’t driving yet. I’m trying to put some people in the cars that might bring it to their attention. If you get a 10-year-old in the car reminding you that you’re not supposed to text and drive, it’s probably going to get to the point where you going to remember it’s a little bit better that way.”
Krull says the Iowa State Patrol is aiming for 300 or fewer fatalities on roads across the state in 2021.
