Crackdown targets drinking drivers

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office is working with the Idaho Transportation Department’s Office of Highway Safety to keep roads free of impaired drivers.

Starting Thursday and running through July 15, law enforcement from 60 agencies across the state will dedicate patrols looking for drivers under the influence of drugs and alcohol.

According to OHS data, impaired driving was the cause of 1,501 crashes in 2019, resulting in 99 deaths in Idaho.

According to statistics from the Idaho Transportation Department's Office of Highway Safety, from Jan. 1 through June 27, 98 people were killed as a result of vehicle crashes on Idaho roadways. That's an increase of 20 deaths from vehicle crashes in Idaho for the same time period in 2020.

In 2019 there were 8,084 DUI arrests statewide.

“We want our community to enjoy the Fourth of July holiday, but we also want responsible drivers on our roads,” said Sheriff Robert Norris. “If you plan on drinking, also make a plan for a sober ride home. Driving under the influence of any substance is dangerous and illegal, and will land you a DUI.”

During last summer’s Fourth of July impaired driving campaign, law enforcement officers in Kootenai County made 44 DUI arrests. That was in cooperation with the North Idaho DUI Task Force, which will be mobilized during this holiday weekend.

Idaho State Police troopers went after speeding drivers this past weekend.

The effort was part of a Border to Border speed education and enforcement campaign coordinated by the Western States Traffic Safety Coalition Friday through Sunday. In several western states including Idaho, fatal and serious injury crashes and speed-related vehicle rollovers have recently increased, as have citations for excessive speed, a press release said.

Sixty percent of all citations written this past weekend — 212 of 350 — were speed-related.

The citations included:

• 2 reckless driving charges (misdemeanors)

• 1 inattentive driving charge on Interstate 90 in Shoshone County involving a driver traveling at 117 mph in an area posted for 75 mph.

• 55 Excessive Speed citations (16 mph or over the posted limit) including four for speeds of 100 mph or above.

"High speeds increase the risk and severity of crashes, and these speeds show a disregard for the driver's own safety and that of others on the road," said Idaho State Police Lt. Jens Pattis.

"It's important to let folks know that wherever they travel, their safety and the safety of others is absolutely our priority, even if it means writing them a citation when they fail to watch their speed," Pattis added.