Be Thankful For This: Police Warn of Traffic Enforcement Plan

WEST DES MOINES, IA — Here's one more thing to be thankful for this holiday: West Des Moines police are warning drivers of added enforcement throughout the weekend as they look for traffic violations — with a special focus on seatbelt use and impaired drivers. The high visibility traffic enforcement begins Thursday.

Officers from the West Des Moines Police Department are conducting the heightened enforcement efforts in conjunction with the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau during the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend in an effort to reduce traffic-related injuries and deaths on Iowa roads.

Known as STEP — Special Traffic Enforcement Program — the efforts are intended to serve as a reminder for drivers to obey all traffic laws and drive safely. The police department said in a news release that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that seatbelt usage reduces the risk of fatal injury to front-seat passenger car occupants by 45 percent and in Iowa, alcohol is second only to excessive speed as a contributing factor in overall traffic crashes.

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