Drunk drivers will face extra patrols through Sept. 4

The Idaho Transportation Department is partnering with law enforcement agencies across the state to target drunk drivers.

Beginning today and lasting through Sept. 4, officers will conduct additional patrols to reduce drunk driving on Idaho roads.

The additional enforcement effort comes as Labor Day approaches and marks the end of the summer’s 100 Deadliest Days of Driving, the period between Memorial and Labor Day when traffic fatalities spike across the country.

“Drunk driving is a very dangerous behavior and there is no excuse for it,” Idaho Transportation Department Highway Safety Manager John Tomlinson said. “We lose too many of our friends and neighbors to these drunk driving crashes.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said 10,874 people were killed in drunk driving crashes nationwide in 2017. That year, 80 people were killed in impaired-driving crashes in Idaho. Twenty-eight of those deaths happened during the summer.

Tomlinson recommends a designated driver and reminds drivers to report any drunk driver to local law enforcement.