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November
28, 2000 Michael
Corey DES MOINES, Iowa--For millions of Americans, the holidays might bring good cheer and time with family, but they also may mean a cross-country road trip. That puts an extra burden on Iowa emergency personnel, who must spread resources even thinner than usual. According to a U.S. Department of Transportation study, the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the most-traveled day of the year. Americans make 13.7 million trips on that day alone. The day after Christmas comes in second, with 12 million trips nationwide. Iowa DOT traffic safety specialist Scott Falb said neither his office nor the state patrol has studied exactly how many people are on Iowa's roads during the holidays. "The roads were clogged, though," he said. "I can tell you that from experience."
Despite the high volume of travel, federal statistics suggest that holiday trips are actually less fatal than the yearly average. The federal DOT study said interstate travel results in fewer accidents than commuting trips. As of Nov. 27, Iowa State Patrol public information officer Robert Hansen said he knew of two fatalities during Thanksgiving travel. If that number held, it would be down one from in 1998 and the same as in 1999, according to a state patrol press release. Falb said Thanksgiving is Iowa's second-deadliest holiday for travelers, after the Fourth of July. Christmas ranks sixth, in last place among holidays that are recorded by the Iowa DOT. Falb said that probably is because families tend to spread out their Christmas travel over a longer period than the four-day Thanksgiving weekend. This means some deaths related to Christmas travel may go unreported. He said Christmas is also somewhat different because not all Americans observe the holiday. Holiday weekends stretch emergency workers to their limits. Hansen said there was fewer than one trooper on patrol per Iowa county this Thanksgiving weekend, which is marked from the Wednesday before to the Sunday after the holiday. He said about 55- 60 troopers were on duty at one time during the day, and about 20 troopers statewide at night. Last year, the Iowa State Patrol issued 5,000 citations and warnings during the Thanksgiving weekend. Hansen said the state patrol would like to have up to three troopers per every two counties, but cannot get funding from state government. On holidays, the agency may get federal money to pay troopers to work overtime. Hansen said troopers don't get much idle time. He said when troopers are not answering a call, they are usually running radar and looking for other violations. When two troopers are investigating an accident or if one is on a lunch break, the concentration of enforcement can drop even lower. Hansen said the lower numbers are a problem because the sight of officers can deter motorists from speeding or driving aggressively. In order to maximize the visibility of law enforcement on Iowa roads, the state patrol cooperates with local agencies in "saturation projects." Troopers will be diverted from other areas of the state to focus on one roadway, like Interstate Highway 80 from Nebraska to Illinois. "You put the word out ahead of time, and then you back it up with enforcement efforts," he said. A summer survey by the agency seemed to indicate that Iowans were, on average, satisfied with the number of troopers and with their behavior. On a five-point scale, Iowans rated the number of troopers at 3.96, where "1" indicated "too many" and "5" indicated "needs more." Those surveyed also said state patrol enforcement was adequate. The average score on that question was 4.19, where "5" indicated "excellent." Hansen said though the results were in the middle, answers tended to be polarized one way or the other. He said he suspects many people who have received a ticket said there were "too many" troopers. "It takes a lot of 'fives' to make up for those 'ones,'" he said. The DOT study surveyed 80,000 households about their long-distance travel in 1995. The Iowa State Patrol surveyed citizens at the Iowa State Fair, Clay County Fair and the Waterloo Cattle Congress this summer.
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