According to preliminary numbers, Oregon State Police troopers made more DUI arrests over the Memorial Day weekend than last year. But so far, the number of traffic deaths reported is down this year.
The 78-hour reporting period began Friday evening and ended Monday night. During that time, two separate fatalities were reported. And both people who died were pedestrians.
Last year, seven people died in six separate traffic crashes. That's in line with the average.
This year, arrests for impaired driving were up.
Lieutenant Gregg Hastings is with the OSP. He says citizen driving complaints were directly tied to helping troopers arrest 11 DUI drivers.
“We would really like to thank those who went that extra step, made the call, helped us remove some potentially dangerous drivers from the roadway and helped hopefully to keep our highways safer than they have been over any past Memorial Day holiday weekends,” Hastings said.
OSP’s preliminary numbers show overall, 59 drivers were arrested during the long weekend for driving under the influence. Last year, there were 48 DUI arrests.
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