Clark County law enforcement officers arrested 48 people for driving while impaired during special emphasis patrols through the latter half of December, according to the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.
Local officers, working extra hours paid for through a state grant, contacted 880 motorists total over 215 extra hours as part of the emphasis patrols. The patrols ran from Dec. 13-31.
“Those who chose to drive while impaired ran a strong risk of being arrested, but our goal was not to increase DUI arrests,” Vancouver police Cpl. Brent Donaldson said in a news release from the agency. “Our focus was to do everything possible to ensure people made it home safe this holiday season.”
Battle Ground police Sgt. Tim Wilson said patrols from Christmastime through New Year’s Eve in 2017 were busier than in the previous year.
Save for one or two nights, every participating officer pulled over and arrested at least one impaired driver. In other years, officers had more slow nights.
“That’s a pretty significant amount of DUI arrests, unfortunately,” Wilson said
The traffic safety commission said 2017 was a relatively good year for traffic safety in Clark County.
Serious-injury crashes involving an impaired driver in 2017 were down 58 percent from the year before, and fatal crashes dropped almost 78 percent.
Another difference in 2017 was the expanded outreach by law enforcement and state traffic safety agencies.
Jack Fletcher, a Prairie High School graduate who was seriously injured in a 2015 car crash where he was hit by a drunken driver, helped with making statewide public service announcements about impaired driving.
The effort meant a lot more exposure for traffic safety efforts, Wilson said.
“The more it’s out there, the more people hear it — hopefully, the more they think about it,” he said. “It’s kind of sad, because how long have we had DUI laws, and we still have to remind people not to drink and drive?”
