High enforcement planned for five-day holiday period
Transcript Staff
The Oklahoma Highway Patrol will join with other states today in a plan to place at least one state trooper every 10 miles on Interstate 40 from coast to coast.
The plan is part of a traffic enforcement campaign called Operation CARE, or Combined Accident Reduction Effort, intended for the official five-day Thanksgiving holiday period beginning today and continuing through Sunday.
"This campaign is intended to promote high visibility of law enforcement officers across the United States, with a 'no tolerance' policy for any type of violation," said Col. Van M. Guillotte, chief of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol,.
Troopers and state police throughout the U.S. plan to concentrate their enforcement activities toward alcohol-related offenses, speed violations and seat belt and child restraint usage, Guillotte said.
"The Thanksgiving holiday period is the most heavily traveled holiday in the United States," Guillotte said.
Increased fuel prices are not expected to deter travelers, and the OU-OSU Bedlam football weekend also falls within the period, he said.
"We want to keep bedlam in the stadium and not on the highway," Guillotte said. Law enforcement officers plan to use safety checkpoints, speed enforcement with the use of aircraft, and motorcycle units with laser radar, he said.
In 2006, four crashes resulted in five fatalities during the Thanksgiving holiday period. Four of the five killed were not wearing seat belts, officials said. In 2005, 11 people were killed in 10 crashes. Five of those people were not wearing seat belts.
