OLIVIA -- Law officers across Renville County made removing alcohol-impaired drivers from the county's roadways their priority in December, and had their hands full doing it.
Sheriff's deputies and police officers in the county issued citations to 27 impaired drivers, or nearly one a day.
Typically, there are around 65 citations issued for driving while impaired in Renville County during a calendar year, said sheriff's deputies Sam Olson and Dan Fick.
These and other efforts to reduce traffic fatalities and accidents through the statewide "Safe and Sober'' campaign helped win the county recognition. The Minnesota Department of Public Safety awarded a $1,000 grant to the Renville County Sheriff's Department to recognize its successful participation in the Safe and Sober campaign.
Law enforcement in the county focused on alcohol-impaired drivers during the Labor Day holiday weekend and in December. Officers turned their attention to seat belt compliance with campaigns in May and October, and excessive speed during the summer traveling months.
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Officers also conduct informational programs throughout the year. Perhaps most important, the officers in the county work together, a point that also helped win the county the recent award, according to Brad Kollmann, law enforcement liaison with the Department of Public Safety. He joined Gordy Pehrson, traffic safety coordinator, in presenting the grant and award to the Sheriff's Department on Tuesday.
Deputies Olson and Fick accepted the award on behalf of the department. Along with their enforcement of the state's alcohol laws, the two deputies are trained to recognize the behavior and physical signs that indicate people are under the influence of drugs.
Fick said in the last year they were called to 46 situations where officers had stopped someone over for impaired driving, but alcohol was not the cause.
Marijuana is the drug most often the cause of impairment when alcohol is not being used in excess, according to Fick. Methamphetamine and cocaine are also frequently the cause of impaired driving.
Alcohol is a factor in 31 percent of the fatalities on Minnesota's roadways, according to Kollmann.
A failure to buckle up is another major factor in fatalities on our roads. In Renville County, five of the seven fatalities recorded in 2005 were not wearing seat belts.
Kollmann and Pehrson pointed out that 70 percent of the state's traffic fatalities occur on rural roadways.
The ongoing campaigns to enforce traffic laws through the Safe and Sober program improve driver compliance, but the lessons are not always learned by some. Both Olson and Fick said it still remains common to arrest drivers for second and third driving while impaired offenses.
