The next special Traffic Enforcement Program (sTEP) wave starts tomorrow as funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office will be participating in the program, which runs from July 1st through the 7th.

Chief Deputy Jeremy Bennett tells us what exactly the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office will be looking for during this sTEP wave.

“We’ll be looking for seat belts, speeders… one of the biggest violations we’ll look for is we’ll have a couple cars out looking for move over violations because we’re trying to get people to slow down and move over when they see emergency lights.”

Bennett says the department will also have an eye out for drivers operating their vehicles while intoxicated this week, so area residents should expect Guthrie County to be saturated with law enforcement given the nature of the 4th of July holiday.

“4th of July is probably one of the deadliest holidays we have–there is a lot of alcohol and celebrations involved.  We’re just trying to make sure everyone has a safe holiday and gets to where they’re wanting to go.”

According to the Iowa DOT, there were six traffic fatalities during the 4th of July weekend last year, three of which were alcohol related.

The Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office is one of over 250 city, county and state law enforcement agencies participating in the sTEP wave this week.