VIRGINIA, MN (Northland's NewsCenter)---The Iron Range is cracking down on drunk driving.
Six extra patrols, from multiple Iron Range jurisdictions, hit the streets of Virginia this past weekend as part of the state's "Toward Zero Death" campaign.
Law enforcement officials call this intense enforcement action saturation. The idea is not only to stop drunk drivers but to let people know police are serious about stopping this behavior.
"Usually on a night like this I'll stop somebody going five to seven miles per hour over, where on a normal night I probably wouldn't," Virginia Officer and Toward Zero Death Coordinator, Steve Estey said. "And the reason being, on a night like tonight we want visibility."
"We try to make that visual impact that when people are out and about and on their ways, on their ways to where they are going to find their entertainment tonight that they see us out there," Trooper Jason Engeldinger of the MN State Patrol said.
But in a surprise outcome, in one of the deadliest counties in the state for drunken driving accidents, of the 58 traffic stops made that Saturday night, there were zero DWI arrests.
State statistics prove the campaign's extra enforcement and visibility is doing what it was designed to do, get people to stop drinking and driving.
The state's Toward Zero Death campaign goal is to see fewer than 350 deaths per year by 2014.
In 2011, there was a total of 349 traffic deaths state wide.
More DWI saturation patrols are planned for the rest of the year with the goal of keeping the roads safe for all.
"Feel free to stop one of us and ask for a ride home," Estey said.
Because St. Louis County is one of the 13 deadliest counties in Minnesota it received $112,000 from the Office of Traffic Safety to fund the northern St. Louis County saturation patrols.
The next saturation, in the Virginia area, is planned for Feb. 18.
Posted to the web: Jennifer Walch
jwalch@northlandsnewscenter.com
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