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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- This weekend, law enforcement agencies throughout southeast Iowa will be participating in a special enforcement project entitled, “Operation Eastern Heat.”

According to the Ottumwa Police Department, officers will be looking to target violations that present the greatest risk of collisions which include; impaired driving,
safety belt and child safety seat violations, stop sign and stop light violations, excessive speed and aggressive driving.

Law enforcement agencies believe that public awareness and enforcement are the greatest way of reducing serious crashes on Iowa’s roadways.

The project is being funded through a grant provided by the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau.

Full press release is below.

Operation “Eastern Heat”: Set for August 19-20, 2011

On Friday, August 19^th and Saturday, August 20^th, 2011, Iowa law enforcement agencies in the eastern 1/3 of Iowa will combine resources to conduct a special enforcement project designed to reduce accident related injuries and lower the fatality rate on Iowa’s roadways. With the great success of the night time enforcement last year, Iowa law enforcement will, “TAKE THE FIGHT TO THE NIGHT.” This will allow us to attack the high-risk drivers and lower the fatality rate further than we did last year. The main goal of the corridor enforcement project is to utilize law enforcement during the night time hours where three major contributors to these crashes are alcohol, high speeds and the low seatbelt usage at night. During this special enforcement project, officers will be targeting those violations that present the greatest risk of collisions which include, but are not limited to:

impaired driving
safety belt and child safety seat violations
stop sign and stop light violations
excessive speed
aggressive driving

This enforcement project is part of an ongoing effort by Iowa law enforcement to reduce the number of serious injury and fatal crashes on Iowa roadways. Two of the most effective means to accomplish this is through public awareness and enforcement. These methods have proven successful in increasing Iowa’s daytime seatbelt usage rate to nearly 93% and by reducing the number of crashes involving impaired drivers.

This project is being funded through a grant from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau. Additional projects will be conducted in the near future.