HOLLAND, MI (WHTC-AM/FM) – It may be a fortnight before the Thanksgiving Day holiday, but extra patrols of those in brown or blue statewide got underway on Monday.
Seat belt enforcement will be the primary thrust of a three week-long “Click It or Ticket” initiative, with additional patrols funded by the Michigan Office of Highway Safety Planning, but state troopers, sheriff’s deputies and local officers will also be looking for drunken drivers, speeding drivers, and other moving violations.
Among the departments participating is police services with the Holland Department of Public Safety. Community Policing Officer John Weatherwax admits that the next few weeks will be taxing, but he’s looking forward to the holidays. “There are some ups and downs as far as celebrations,” he said during an appearance on “WHTC Talk of the Town” this past Friday, “and sometimes people partake in too many libations, so we will definitely be having extra DWI (driving while intoxicated) enforcements out there for the season.”
The initiative looks to increase the statewide seat belt usage rate of 94.4 percent while cutting down on seven fatalities on Michigan roads during last year’s Thanksgiving holiday. Four of those fatalities involved unbuckled motorists.
Holland Public Safety officers will be holding its “Shop with a Hero” program, looking to benefit up to 25 families, as well as a “Gas Giveaway” for random motorists sometime during the holiday season, although dates have yet to be disclosed.
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