Better Watch Out Isp And Wsp Will Be Working Together To Keep Drivers Safe On Interstate 90

Holiday merry makers, be careful.

Wanting to down a few cocktails or beers then go for a drive?

Don’t even think about, police say.

Idaho and Washington state troopers will be out in force looking for drunken and aggressive drivers starting this weekend.

They’ll keep up their emphasis throughout the holiday season.

“We keep working hard at it,” said WSP’s Lt. Bruce Clark. “Until we get the last one off the road our work isn’t done.”

This year, troopers from Idaho and Washington state patrol will specifically patrol Interstate 90 — the major road carrying partygoers and tourists through the area.

The freeway carries exhausted skiers, who may have stopped in at the lodge for a few hot drinks, home from a day at the slopes.

It also carries drivers, who may have had too much to drink at Christmas parties, back to Spokane.

Once they get behind the wheel of their car, they can become one of Idaho’s statistics.

From 1996 through 1999, there were more than 7,100 drunken-driving wrecks, according to Idaho records.

In 1999, there were 86 fatalities attributed to drinking and driving. That number is only slightly up from 1996, where 83 people died because of drunken driving, records show.

Kootenai County has a higher rate of injury and fatal alcohol-related wrecks than other counties its size, according to Idaho’s Office of Highway Safety statistics.

Last year, Kootenai County had an alcohol- or drug-related crash for every 1,000 people. That’s the second highest rate of accidents among the five most populous counties in Idaho.

And that year 176 crashes in Kootenai County were caused by drunken drivers. Six people were killed in those wrecks.

“We shouldn’t have those kinds of numbers,” said Idaho State Police Trooper Taj Wilkerson. “Our goal is to make it through the holiday season without any fatalities.”

Wilkerson and 30 other troopers will be patrolling North Idaho’s highways looking for drunken drivers.

People not wearing seat belts - or parents who haven’t properly restrained their children - will also be ticketed.

In Idaho, a ticket for not wearing a seat belt costs $5. Not properly restraining a child in a safety seat will cost $60.

Drivers who refuse to take a blood-alcohol test in Idaho are immediately put in jail. Idaho residents can post a $500 bail to get out. Out-of-state residents must post $2,000.

Drivers must later appear before a judge, who makes a final judgment.

And those drunken drivers who think they can escape the law by simply crossing the state line will still be arrested, officers said.

The two agencies have a mutual agreement that officers can place suspects under arrest in either state. If the arrest takes place out of an officer’s state, the officer will hold a suspect until that state’s law enforcement arrives, Clark said.

The driver will face citations in both states, he said.

Members of North Idaho’s new Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter have started their own red ribbon campaign to remind people about those who have been killed or injured by drunken driving.

“We support (law enforcement) 100 percent,” chapter president Melanie Hougham said.

“The roads are icy and snowy. There is more traffic,” she said. “We want people to be responsible.”