Troopers to swarm roads for Labor Day weekend
Published 11:06 pm Friday, August 29, 2008
Police plan to have a noticeable presence on the region’s roads during what is traditionally one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.
The Washington State Patrol has scheduled extra patrols throughout the holiday weekend looking for reckless and drunken drivers, trooper Keith Leary said.
“We want to focus on motorcycle safety, driving under the influence, speed and aggressive driving,” he said. “We will have troopers on overtime throughout the weekend and we will have the aircraft working day and night as well.”
For the first time, people who call 911 from their cell phones will be transferred directly to troopers in the airplane. This will make it easier for the pilots to track down what is being reported, Leary said.
“It’s kind of a neat system,” he said.
In 2007, traffic crashes killed 565 people on Washington’s roadways, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission. Of those deaths, 228 were blamed on drunken drivers.
Last year in Snohomish County during the Labor Day weekend, 30 people were arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, nearly 800 were stopped for speeding and 165 for aggressive driving, Leary said. Troopers wrote 60 tickets to people who weren’t buckled up and arrested 17 more on suspicion of drug possession.
Police want drivers throughout the region, including those crossing the border into Canada, to slow down and drive carefully.
“We are going to work with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Canada as well to see if we can get the safe driving message out up there as well,” Leary said.
Troopers will be making sure people properly secure their trailers and recreational vehicles. For many people, Labor Day is the last time they tow RVs before putting them away for the winter.
“We also want to make sure people are safe on U.S. 2,” Leary said. “Safety is about making the right choices when driving and paying attention 100 percent of the time.”
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
