Officers from Cheney, Airway Heights and Eastern Washington University take part
A report released Jan. 4 by the Washington Traffic Safety Commission revealed that
in Spokane and Pend Oreille Counties, 188 motorists were stopped and arrested for driving under the influence (DUI) during a holiday DUI enforcement campaign conducted from Nov. 24, 2011 to Jan. 2, 2012 while statewide law enforcement officers arrested 3,812 drivers for DUI.
Police departments from the cites of Cheney, Airway Heights, Liberty Lake, Spokane and Spokane together with the Eastern Washington University Police Department, the Spokane and Pend Oreille counties sheriff's office and the Washington State Patrol participated in the extra emphasis patrols with the support of the Spokane County Target Zero Task Force. The extra patrols were funded by a grant from the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.
According to a press release from the Washington State Patrol, 253 impaired drivers were arrested statewide over the New Year's holiday weekend alone. Tragically three people died in a head-on collision caused by a drunk driver on U.S. Highway 2 in Lincoln County Jan. 1.
“It is always the hope that the New Year starts with people driving safe and sober,” State Patrol Chief John R. Batiste said in the press release. “But, I am proud that our troopers are out ensuring impaired drivers are taken off the roads.”
The number of people arrested statewide for DUI by troopers over the holiday weekend decreased compared to the 286 people arrested for DUI in 2010. Of the 253 people arrested in 2011, 32 were involved in DUI collisions.
Last year during the same time period, officers in Spokane and Pend Oreille counties on routine and extra patrols arrested 173 people for DUI.
During 2010, drinking drivers killed 188 people, representing more than 40 percent of the 458 people who died on Washington's roadways.
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