EVERETT — From 2,000 feet up, the nighttime traffic on I-5 in Everett is beautiful.
The cars are white-hot pins of light. They streak along as if in unison.
Paul Speckmaier looks for the pins of light that aren’t behaving properly.
Speckmaier is a trooper and pilot with the Washington State Patrol. He stopped by Snohomish County on Friday night to help local troopers begin their holiday emphasis patrols.
From a Cessna 206, he scanned the traffic below.
“After you start watching it for awhile, it’s pretty obvious which cars stand out,” he said.
This weekend marked the earliest start to holiday patrols ever in the state, trooper Keith Leary said. Between Friday and Sunday, troopers arrested 24 impaired drivers in Snohomish County alone.
Fall weather triggers the party mentality that unfortunately flows into the roads, Leary said.
Troopers have seen Halloween become more and more of an adult party night, trooper Kirk Rudeen said. The parties are getting bigger, better organized and more alcohol-fueled.
For the last six years, there have been no fatal Halloween collisions on state highways in Snohomish County, Leary said.
The patrol wants to keep it that way. Using pilots like Speckmaier helps.
“It allows us to get DUIs we might not get,” Leary said. “It can literally mean the difference between someone living or dying that night.”
Back in the sky, the Cessna 206 and its crew have an impressive resume. They’ve helped rescue stranded families, catch fleeing felons and even have found marijuana grow operations.
When Speckmaier sees an erratic driver, he follows the vehicle, radioing its location until a trooper can catch up.
“He’s able to give very accurate info to troopers on the ground,” Rudeen said. “He basically walks us over there.”
The plane’s high-tech video camera starts recording the vehicle. The video footage can be used to build probable cause for the trooper or to buttress cases in court.
Catching drivers who have been using drugs and alcohol is the patrol’s top priority, Leary said. Too many troopers have had to notify families that they’ve lost someone in a car crash that was caused by an impaired driver.
“(We) do not want to make that knock on a door,” he said. “That’s the worst part of our job.”
The holiday emphasis patrols will last through New Year’s Day.
Contrary to popular belief, the patrols aren’t random, Leary said. Troopers use historical data to build models that predict where and when problems could occur.
“We have to use our resources in a way that’s going to save lives,” Leary said. “We can’t sit and wait for five fatals to happen.”
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com
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