Linn County Sheriff’s Office to crack down on drunken driving as Labor Day approaches

With summer coming to an end and Labor Day right around the corner, the Linn County Sheriff's Office says it will be ramping up patrols for the weeks leading up to and during the holiday weekend.

According to a news release, deputies will 'be out in full force pulling over and arresting drunk drivers” from Friday to Sept. 2.

In 2017, the most recent year for which data is available, one person in the United States died every 48 minutes in a drunken driving crash. Drunken driving deaths, according to the sheriff's office, account for about one-third of all traffic deaths each year, and that number has held steady despite states' efforts to crack down on impaired drivers.

Last year, there were five fatalities in Iowa over the three-day Labor Day weekend, the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff's office wants to remind Linn County residents and visitors to act responsibly and plan for alternate transportation if alcohol will be consumed.

'Ultimately, drinking and driving is a choice, and it is a choice that puts all road users at risk,” the sheriff's office said. 'If drivers are impaired by any substance - alcohol or drugs - they should not get behind the wheel of a vehicle.”

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