Police will be out in force for Memorial Day weekend

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By Thomas Geyer | Friday, May 25, 2007 2:56 PM CDT | () comments

Buckle up, drive sober and do not speed is the advice area police agencies are giving to drivers and revelers as the Memorial Day weekend approaches.

State agencies will be running their “Click it or Ticket,” “Special Traffic Enforcement Program,” or STEP, and “Combined Accident Reduction Enforcement,” or CARE, while local police will be out in force looking for any not buckled up or driving impaired.

Rock Island police are running their mobilization looking for impaired drivers and people not wearing seat belts. But there is more.

“We have a speed enforcement grand in Rock Island that runs throughout the summer,” said Rock Island police Lt. Mark Poulos.

“There will be 41 hours of overtime every month of the summer for our officers to catch speeders,” he said.

“And there is no discretion to not write a ticket,” he said. “If people are speeding; they’re speeding and everybody gets a ticket. Don’t look for a break. Seat-belt violations included.”

Davenport police Lt. Mike Venema said that city police always look for impaired drivers or people in vehicles not buckled in.

“Seat-belt violations are primary reasons to stop people in Iowa,” he said. “We work closely with the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau on enforcement, and the recommendation from the state is that seat belt citations save lives.

“We are given extra funding to do seat belt enforcement,” Venema added. “Seat-belt use saves lives and if it takes handing out citations to get people to comply, we’re willing to do so.”

The Iowa State Patrol is adding more personnel, more cars and more hours as Memorial Day and the summer driving season approaches.

“We’re going to have our troopers out on the highways looking for speeders, drunk drivers, erratic drivers and people not wearing their seatbelts, and those are just a few of the things Iowa’s brown and gold will be looking for,” Iowa State Patrol Colonel Robert Garrison said in a news release.

Three people died on Iowa’s roadways during the 2006 Memorial Day weekend.

Illinois State police reported 23 fatalities on Illinois roadways during the Memorial Day holiday last year. More troopers will be out and about looking for speeders and impaired drivers.

AAA is estimating that 38.3 million Americans will travel this Memorial Day weekend, up 1.7 percent over last year. Of that number, 32.1 million will travel by motor vehicle, or 1.8 percent more than last year.

Higher gasoline prices will not be keeping people off the road, Gail Weinholzer, director of public affairs for AAA Minnesota-Iowa, said in a news release.

Families will travel closer to home and save money by staying in less expensive hotels and eating in cheaper restaurants, she said.

Refinery problems have slowed supply in the midst of high demand, which has caused the rise in price, said Doug MacIntyre, an oil analyst with the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy.

The national average for a gallon of regular unleaded was $3.22 on Monday, but that is still less than what drivers were paying in terms of real dollars in March of 1981.

“Our calculation for March 1981 is $3.29 in today’s dollars,” MacIntyre said.

Thomas Geyer can be contacted at (563) 383-2328 or tgeyer@qctimes.com.

Bettendorf police get started early

Bettendorf police began Memorial Day weekend enforcement a day early, setting up a speed enforcement detail on the exit ramp of Interstate 74 between 8 and 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

“We get complaints all the time about speeding up there,” said traffic Sgt. Rich Streepy.

Police pulled over 40 speeders, who averaged 16 to 18 mph over the posted speed limit of 50 on the bridge. One driver was clocked at 84 mph.

Bettendorf police will team up with Davenport cops next Tuesday on another bridge speeding detail on I-74 between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The department will set up speed details in other locations Friday, and will be increasing patrols looking for seatbelt and alcohol violators over the weekend, Streepy said.

The extra enforcement is being partially funded by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau.