The Thanksgiving holiday is one of the busiest times of year for Iowa roadways, and the Iowa Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau and local law enforcement are working together to make it a safe one. A new Special Traffic Enforcement Program (sTEP) initiative will begin Sunday, Nov. 19 and run through Sunday, Nov. 26. Lieutenant Jon Cretsinger, with the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, says that though there is a focus on seat belt safety in this newest sTEP, they will also be conducting a special enforcement on Wednesday, Nov. 22.
Officers with local police departments, sheriff’s offices and the Iowa State Patrol conduct pre-program surveys so they can get an idea of the success of their instructional efforts.
Just recently, Sheriff Ken Pingrey was notified by the state that Carroll County is one of their High Five counties. This, however, is not a wanted designation, rather it is one given to the Iowa counties with the highest number of fatality accidents with impaired driving being a contributing factor. The goal, of combining education with enforcement, is to greatly reduce those numbers.
In addition to the enforcement support received from the High Five Rural Traffic Safety Project, they receive grant money from the sTEP programs to help cover overtime expenses, enforcement equipment such as cameras or preliminary breath testing equipment and it has also been used for some of the digital radar speed signs seen around the county. The Sheriff’s Office has also distributed flyers throughout the county and on Facebook that show the statistics and help to educate about the importance of saving lives through the simple action of following driving laws. Cretsinger says that distracted driving has also been a contributing factor to many serious accidents in the area recently, but a new feature on Apple products will work to block all text messages and will send an automatic message that you are driving and will call back when you get to your location. This, he says, is a feature that should be used by anyone with access, and that it likely won’t be long until this is just a standard feature on all mobile technology.
