With one of the bigger holidays for the country this week, some organizations and law enforcement agencies are preparing for a variety of different situations, including drunk driving.

Iowa State Patrol District 4 Resource Officer Trooper Shelby McCreedy says that the Iowa State Patrol and Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau are teaming up for a Selective Traffic Enforcement Program, or STEP. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio that this program will run from July 3rd to 7th, and why they are enacting it at this time.

“We’re coming up on a holiday that has historically been one of the deadliest holidays in a calendar year. So with that in mind, obviously during the time period from the third until the seventh, we anticipate an increase in traffic, we anticipate an increase of alcohol consumption.”

McCreedy mentions that Iowa has been tracking annual traffic fatalities since 1962, and alcohol related traffic fatalities on holidays since 1977. She adds that in the last five years, roughly 50 percent of traffic fatalities during the Fourth of July holiday are alcohol related, or involve impaired drivers. McCreedy reminds those that do go out to party and celebrate that they need to have a good plan in place to get home without driving, because there can be major consequences for those who do drive impaired.