Oregon Department of
Transportation’s Safety Month concludes Memorial Day weekend with extra
enforcement in an effort to help save lives by cracking down on those making
dangerous driving decisions.

The increased period begins
Friday evening, May 25 and runs through Monday, May 28. The focus, according to
ODOT, will be to make sure child passengers are buckled up; ensuring traffic
moves over for emergency vehicles; and getting impaired drivers off the road.

In 2011’s Memorial Day period,
four people died in separate crashes in Oregon. Since 1970, 259 people died in
traffic crashes during the ‘summer-kickoff’ holiday period. More than half of
those deaths were the result of alcohol-involved crashes, ODOT said. In the
last decade-plus, 14 of those that died were unbelted.

“Day or night, drivers are
putting themselves and others at risk when they drive without any consideration
for safety,” said Richard Evans, a police spokesman. “Those who choose not to
drive safely or don’t buckle up every time shouldn’t be surprised if police
pull them over and take enforcement action.”

In 2010, a remarkable 70
people who died in car crashes were unrestrained; during that same time, a
survey showed 40 percent of children aged 5-8 were not riding in booster seats,
as required by law.

Over the five previous
Memorial Day weekends, troopers arrested over 400 DUII drivers, including 88
during last year’s 78-hour period.