Law enforcement agencies in Benton and Washington counties and across the state are preparing for thousands of travelers this Labor Day weekend, and are cracking down on drinking and driving, law enforcement officers said Wednesday.
"You just have a lot of people out this holiday weekend," said Cpl. Chuck Lewis with the Arkansas State Police. "People are traveling on the road trying to get one more trip in."
At A Glance
Drive Sober Or Get Pulled Over
Each year, on average, more than 10,000 people die on the road due to drunken driving. To fight drinking and driving, law enforcement in every state and most U.S. towns and cities will be cracking down on drunken driving from Aug. 15 through Labor Day.
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
At A Glance
Benton County Labor Day
Most local law enforcement agencies in Benton County reported only a handful of driving while intoxicated arrests during previous Labor Day holidays. For example, last year, Bentonville had three total drunk driving arrests; and Rogers had about two similar arrests in 2013. Also, Benton County has had no fatalities involving drinking and driving on Labor Day in the past two years.
Source: Staff Reports
Nationally, Labor Day was the second deadliest holiday, just below Thanksgiving, for people who died in drinking-and-driving related accidents in 2012, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data. The data is the most recent available and shows 390 people were killed in crashes. Of those, 38 percent were linked to alcohol impairment.
The worry over drinking and driving goes up as more people hit the roads. About 29.7 million people -- the highest volume since 2008 -- will drive on U.S. roads this holiday, according to an auto club travel forecast.
No figures are available to show how many of those drivers will be on Arkansas's roadways, but Danny Straessle, State Highway and Transportation Department spokesman, said thousands will be out.
"This is everybody's opportunity to get out and go, see and do," Straessle said. "This is the last of summer."
The holiday is among the busiest for state troopers, Lewis said.
Troopers plan to have low-profile vehicles out, set up checkpoints and speed-enforcement areas. They plan to carefully watch construction zones.
"We always heighten caution," Lewis said. "We've had a lot of traffic accidents and fatalities just in the last couple of weeks."
State Police statistics released Wednesday show troopers responded to 374 crashes in 2012, the most recent year available. Of those accidents, 186 resulted in injuries and 49 of those crashes were linked to alcohol, according to the spreadsheet provided by Bill Sadler, State Police spokesman. Of the alcohol-related wrecks, 33 of those resulted in injuries, statistics show.
The number of fatal wrecks don't appear to be rising locally, except in relation with the increase in population, said Dallas McClellan, captain over enforcement at the Washington County Sheriff's Office. That means, as Northwest Arkansas grows, so does the number of accidents, arrests for drinking and driving and alcohol-related fatalities, he said.
"Unfortunately, Northwest Arkansas is not like it used to be," McClellan said. "You can get DWIs on Tuesday afternoon at noon."
Washington County deputies expect to see a flood of people as college students trek back to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, the first Razorback home football kicks off and the county fair wraps up, McClellan said.
"It is the winding down of the summer," Lewis said. "There are a lot of things join ton in the county this weekend."
Washington County deputies, Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers police have beefed up enforcing seat belt laws and are watching out for drivers under the influence as part of the national Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign, McClellan said.
Springdale and Fayetteville police spokesmen did not return emails or messages asking about their plans Tuesday and Wednesday.
Other law agencies are increasing patrols and trying to stop drunken drivers on their own without the national campaign, said Keshia Guyll, Benton County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman, in an email.
Benton County deputies will be "out in full force with general, extra patrols and sobriety checkpoints throughout the county," Guyll said. Beaver Lake will see more patrols, too, she said.
The county had no drownings during Labor Day last year, Guyll said. Deputies made only a handful of arrests linked to drinking and driving, she said.
Other agencies don't expect to see much activity this Labor Day.
Rogers police expect an increase in calls in which families get into fights after drinking, spokesman Keith Foster said, but traffic isn't expected to be bad. He doesn't expect a slew of arrests for driving while intoxicated either. People will be going on trips outside of Rogers, he said.
Rogers Fire Department officials don't expect an increase in specific calls either, said Chief Tom Jenkins. Still, the worst car wreck Jenkins has seen during his career happened on a Labor Day weekend, he said.
"It is imperative, as always, that people use a greater degree of caution," Jenkins said. "We want holidays and three-day weekends to be fun."
NW News on 08/28/2014