ZERO - that's what was accomplished on I-80 & I-35 Aug. 28-30
North to south and east to west, you know something is big when law enforcement in 16 states work together towards a common goal. On Aug. 28-30, law enforcement from coast to coast in states along interstates 35 and 80 collaborated on the I-80/35 Challenge to reduce fatalities and serious injuries and increase awareness of impaired driving and seat belt use. The effort, which covered 4,500 miles, was expanded from last year’s successful I-80 Challenge.
The dates of the project were selected after a five-year review of crash data, showed the month of August to be one of the deadliest months for motorists on these two interstates.
The stops included all vehicle types with 461 commercial vehicles inspected as part of the effort.
Patrick Hoye, bureau chief of the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, said, “We believe that these types of strong enforcement projects are one of several essential components needed to reduce crashes and save lives on our nation’s highways. The I-80/35 Challenge had outstanding results, from removing 166 impaired drivers to the most important statistic of all, no fatalities on either interstate during the course of the project!”
The states included in the effort were California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.