The Iowa State Patrol wants to make sure everyone gets home safely during the Fourth of July holiday. 

District 4 Trooper Shelby McCreedy says with the Fourth of July on a Monday they anticipate more people to be on the road along with people consuming alcohol in celebration of the holiday. She says they are working to prevents a possibly dangerous weekend. 

“So across the country, there’s going to be additional resources on the roadways trying to take impaired drivers off the road, prevent serious injury or fatal crashes. You know, we’re doing that in Iowa. So you’re going to see an increase in not only state troopers, but local law enforcement.”

McCreedy adds that before anyone celebrates the holiday to make a plan and have a safe way of transportation. 

“You have to make a plan. You have to know ahead of time where you’re going to go, what you’re going to do, and who’s going to be responsible behind the wheel of the vehicle. So it’s establishing either a designated driver or if you can’t find a volunteer for a designated driver, which sometimes happens, then establish a plan to, you know, who’s going to get a hold of a cab or an Uber.”

She says that Fourth of July and Labor Day are the most deadly holidays on the road and in 2021 they had seven fatalities  which tied the most deaths in the state for a holiday.