Iowa Department of Public Safety
Eugene T. Meyer, Commissioner
215 East 7th Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50319
Telephone Number: (515) 725-6182
Facsimile Number: (515) 725-6195

Colonel Patrick J. Hoye, Chief

TROOPERS PREPPED TO HANDLE LABOR DAY TRAVEL, CELEBRATIONS

Des Moines, IOWA --- Beginning today, the Department of Public Safety’s Iowa State Patrol Division is committing additional resources to Iowa’s interstates and highways in an effort to increase visibility and enforcement over the Labor Day weekend.  September 4-7, 2009 motorists traveling throughout the state should be prepared to follow the speed limit and wear their seat belt, or risk a citation from one of the men and women in brown and gold!

Col. Patrick J. Hoye commented, “Labor Day is a time to honor American workers; like workers who have designed and built the very cars we travel in today.  Let’s honor those workers by making our vehicles instruments of safe passage, not death and destruction.  Follow the speed limit.  Wear your seat belt.  Don’t’ drink and drive.”

Don’t believe the rumors; speed does contribute to motor vehicle collisions.  Speed plays a factor in roughly seven percent of all fatality accidents in Iowa.  Additionally, each year more than 200 motorists suffer serious injuries in speed-related crashes in the Hawkeye State.  And seat belts do save lives.  Over the last 20 years nearly 6,000 Iowans were spared death or life threatening injuries because they took a few seconds to buckle up! 

During the Labor Day enforcement effort in 2008 the State Patrol netted 47 OWI arrests, 39 open container citations, 2,180 speed citations, 447 seatbelt citations, 35 child restraint citations and 1,035 other moving violation citations over the long holiday weekend. 

The increased enforcement effort this holiday weekend was made possible by Iowa State Patrol’s participation in the Combined Accident Reduction Effort (CARE).  CARE is a nation-wide program that ties together state police agencies to enforce traffic laws on major U.S. highways and interstates over time periods know for heavy traffic.

To enroll in the DPS E-mail Notification system simply log on to https://dpsemailnotify.iowa.gov and follow the instructions to enroll as a new user.