Troopers from the Indiana State Police post in Lowell will begin special DUI patrols Friday.
Operation Pullover Blitz 62 will involve more than 250 law enforcement agencies across the state. Supported by federal funds allocated by the traffic safety division of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, the blitz pays for the overtime needed to ramp up patrols.
"We have saturation patrols as well as a sobriety check point planned, " said 1st Sgt. Terrence Weems, assistant commander of the Lowell post. "If you drive impaired in our district, you will go to jail. We believe that aggressive enforcement of driving while impaired and seat belt usage will help continue the downward trend in fatalities."
The effort, which will run through March 21, is designed to coincide with Indiana's March basketball tournaments and St. Patrick's Day.
Saturation patrols, sobriety checkpoints and other high visibility enforcement activities will be used to identify impaired drivers. The patrols also will focus on factors that cause fatal crashes and strict enforcement of seat belt and other passenger restraint laws.
March 2009 saw 41 fatalities on Indiana roads, police said. Of those, 24 percent involved an intoxicated driver. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2008 there were 134 traffic fatalities nationwide on St. Patrick's Day, which is March 17.
