Wyoming Highway Patrol to Participate in New Year’s Eve Safety Initiative

The Western States Traffic Safety Coalition will initiate a special effort this New Year’s Eve to ensure the dangerous driver behaviors of impaired drivers have no place to hide from the vigilance of their officers and troopers in the partnering states. The coalition is made up of 11 states that include the Arizona Department of Public Safety, California Highway Patrol, Colorado State Patrol, Idaho State Police, Montana Highway Patrol, Nevada Highway Patrol, Oregon State Police, South Dakota Highway Patrol, Utah Highway Patrol, Washington State Patrol, and the Wyoming Highway Patrol.

According to a media release from the coalition, these law enforcement agencies that make up the coalition are committed and unified to keeping the people of their communities’ safe during the holiday. Nationally, over the past five years, an average of 300 people have died in impaired driving crashes the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Last year, there were 10,142 people killed nationwide in impaired driving crashes accounting for nearly one-third of the yearly driving fatalities.

In recent years, specifically drug-impaired driving has become a major highway safety issue. Driving impaired by any substance—alcohol or drugs, whether legal or illegal—is against the law in all states. Law enforcement officers are trained to observe drivers’ behavior and to identify impaired drivers. Additionally, these law enforcement agencies have provided specialty training to some of their officers to identify those drivers impaired by drugs other than, or in addition to, alcohol. Even in states where marijuana laws have changed, it is still illegal to drive under the influence of the drug. All the state law enforcement agencies involved have ensured their officers/ troopers and drug recognition experts are properly trained to recognize and handle drug-impaired drivers as a direct investment in safety.