Cedar Rapids police will step up St. Patrick’s Day enforcement to crackdown on intoxicated driving

The Cedar Rapids Police Department is teaming up with the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to remind those planning to celebrate St. Patrick's Day to do so responsibly.

St. Patrick's Day is Wednesday, March 17, and law enforcement throughout the state consistently see a spike in drunken-driving crashes on this date every year, according to the police department. Therefore, the Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau is sponsoring a heightened traffic enforcement project for law enforcement agencies across the state around the holiday.

According to the NHTSA, 10,142 people were killed in drunken-driving crashes in 2019.

During the 2019 St. Patrick's Day period alone - from 6 p.m. March 16 to 5:59 a.m. March 18 - 63 percent of crash fatalities involved a drunken driver, according to the news release.

Additionally, from 2015 to 2019, a total of 280 lives were lost in drunk-driving crashes during the St. Patrick's Day period.

In Cedar Rapids in 2019, from March 17 to 18, Cedar Rapids Police officers arrested 12 people for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

This is why the Cedar Rapids Police Department is reminding drivers that drunken driving is not only illegal, it is a matter of life and death, according to a news release.

Even one drink can be too many, the release said, and drinking alcohol can have a profound effect on driving skills.

That why the Cedar Rapids Police Department is asking those who plan to drink any alcoholic beverage to plan for a sober designated driver beforehand or use a ride-sharing or driving service.

Drivers should also watch out for pedestrians who have had too much to drink, the department said, as intoxicated pedestrians may lack awareness to their surroundings, which could put them at risk of getting hit by a vehicle.

Comments: (319) 398-8238; kat.russell@thegazette.com