Washington State Patrol Announces DUI Emphasis Patrols with Holiday Nearing

Washington State Patrol troopers announced that the agency has joined with five other states to form Western States Traffic Safety Coalition - the coalition is enforcing a DUI emphasis patrol this week due to the upcoming holiday.

"The mission of that coalition is to reduce impaired driving, especially around holidays," said Sergeant Darren Wright.

The other states participating include Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona.

"We're working together to get messaging out to let people know that there's no safe place for impaired drivers to hide," said Sergeant Wright.

There will be an increased number of troopers to supplement regularly assigned patrols. The troopers selected to participate in these extra patrols include trained, Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement, troopers that can identify and detect impaired drivers. There will also be troopers out that are trained as Drug Recognition Experts and can identify what drugs a driver may be impaired by.