The Washington State Patrol is cracking down on drunk drivers for the holidays.
If you drive north from Spokane on Highway 395 toward the Canadian Border, you’ll notice a whole lot of roadside signs warning motorists that the state patrol is on the look-out for drunk drivers.
Trooper Brian Moore calls it a “high visibility enforcement” effort.
“In addition to the number of troops that we typically have out, we will offer overtime shifts to troopers that are off duty,” he said.
Overtime pay for patrolling officers comes from federal funding. It’s all part of a larger program known as Target Zero -- an effort to have zero traffic fatalities on state roads by 2030.
According to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission, drunk driving accidents decreased by 38 percent between 2011 and 2015. That’s when most drug and alcohol related crashes took place on I-5 between Everett and Olympia.
Copyright 2016 Northwest News Network
