In an effort to provide a safer visit for the approximately three million visitors to Zion National Park each year, park rangers have announced plans to expand vehicle DUI checkpoints and traffic patrols. This will help the rangers fulfill their two essential missions: to preserve and protect national and cultural resources and to provide for the safe enjoyment of those resources by visitors.
Zion Rangers plan to conduct high visibility enforcement efforts, including sobriety checkpoints and saturation enforcement patrols on park roads to help prevent drunk driving. Funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration will make this program possible, which is scheduled to first occur during a two-week period around the July 4th holiday. A second effort is scheduled for early September around the Labor Day holiday. Additional high visibility patrols are planned for late October around Halloween and the hunting season, and regular enforcement efforts will continue to occur throughout the year.
Impaired driving is especially dangerous due to narrow roads, steep drop-off and sharp turns, and Zion’s goals is not to write a lot of tickets or make a lot of arrests but rather to make people think twice about driving after drinking. The park’s DUI prevention program will enhance the safety of both visitors and park wildlife.
[Via: KCSG]
[Photo Via: Wolfgang Staudt]
