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MPD joins effort to reduce roadway deaths

T-R PHOTO BY MIKE DONAHEY
A Marshalltown Police Department vehicle sits outside of the high school on Friday as students leave the building following a lockdown. No one was hurt.

The Marshalltown Police Department is joining Iowa’s statewide Traffic Fatality Reduction Task Force in an effort to reduce deaths on Iowa roadways. As part of that effort, the MPD will conduct a special enforcement initiative geared toward reduction of impaired drivers leading into Father’s Day week.

While Father’s Day will be celebrated on June 20, law enforcement officials hope to reverse the dangerous fatality trend with early awareness and enforcement efforts. Data from the past 10 years indicates Father’s Day weekend shows a higher incidence of impaired drivers on Iowa roads. To help get everyone home safely, MPD officers will increase focus on impaired driving this weekend. Results from a three-year study conducted by autoinsurance.org, Father’s Day ranks fifth out of the 10 deadliest holidays.

Between 2016 and 2018, an average of nearly 439 deadly crashes happened each Father’s Day holiday period on roadways across the United States.

The eventual goal for fatalities for Iowa is zero, but the incremental goal for 2021 is less then 300, down from 338 in 2020. If achieved, this will be the first time Iowa traffic fatalities were less than 300 lives since 1925.

Iowa’s multi-discipline Traffic Fatality Reduction Task Force was created in 2021 to implement educational, enforcement and legislative initiatives to help Iowa achieve the target of less than 300 traffic fatalities annually, with the ultimate goal of zero fatalities. Enforcement is one key element to reduce fatalities. The task force is led by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, the Iowa Department of Transportation and the Iowa State Patrol.

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