The Iowa State Patrol and other law enforcement agencies are participating in, and preparing for some safety programs.

Iowa State Patrol Trooper Shelby McCreedy says that the ISP is currently participating in conjunction with the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau on one program that is being enacted nationwide, and will be working on another beginning over the Thanksgiving holiday. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio about the upcoming statewide program.

“There’s a couple different things at work here, but ultimately they all want to achieve the same goal, and that is to reduce fatalities on Iowa roadways during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. So what you’re going to see is an increase in enforcement presence. The CARE (Crash Awareness and Reduction Effort) weekend has an OWI (operating while intoxicated) focus, and so impairment is going to be a big focus with the additional resources that both the local entities and state patrol put on the roadways during the holiday weekend.”

McCreedy mentions that according to a report from the Iowa Department of Transportation, over 55-percent of passenger vehicle fatalities in the state this year are from occupants of a vehicle not having their seatbelt on. She adds that last year for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, there were 7 fatalities, which is the highest number in the last 10 years.

McCreedy also says that so far this year, there have been 325 roadway fatalities, 20 more than this time last year, and the highest number in five years. She explains that the primary goal for these two safety programs being run together, is to try and bring the number of fatalities during the holiday down to zero.