Extra highway patrols are planned across the North Olympic Peninsula between Aug. 12 and Sept. 6 during the Drive Hammered, Get Nailed campaign.
State Patrol troopers, sheriff’s deputies and city police will be on the lookout for impaired drivers, the Washington Traffic Safety Commission said in a statement.
Both the Clallam and Jefferson County sheriff’s offices will participate, as well as officers with the Port Angeles, Sequim and Port Townsend police departments.
The campaign will be the largest summer DUI enforcement campaign ever, with 178 agencies participating throughout the state, the Traffic Safety Commission said.
The state historically has had its greatest numbers of deaths because of drug- or alcohol-impaired drivers between July and September, the commission said.
Thirty-one percent of the total impaired driving deaths from 2000 through 2009 occurred during the summer months, and Labor Day weekend averages more than seven deaths each year.
Impaired driving is the leading factor in traffic deaths in the state, the commission said.
Last year, impaired drivers contributed to the deaths of more than half of the 491 people who died on the state’s roadways.
The 264 impaired- driver-involved deaths in 2009 represent a decrease of nine fatalities compared with the previous five-year average of 273.
The number of people who died each year in collisions involving an alcohol- or drug-impaired driver were 285 in 2005, 301 in 2006, 272 in 2007, 255 in 2008 and 264 in 2009.
Although this emphasis patrol is occurring during the summer, law enforcement statewide conducts extra DUI enforcement throughout the year.
The Traffic Safety Commission funds grants for the extra patrols as part of the state’s Strategic Highway Safety Plan, also known as Target Zero.
The goal of Target Zero is to eliminate all traffic deaths and serious injuries in the state by 2030.
For more information, see the traffic safety commission website at www.wtsc.wa.gov/.
