The Iowa State Patrol and area deputies are looking to beef up their defense in hopes of making Iowa roadways safer.

To do that, troopers from Post 7 in Fort Dodge are teaming up with deputies in Webster, Wright and Hamilton counties to provide extra patrol on Super Bowl Sunday, according to Trooper Paul Gardner, public resource officer for Post 7.

“With Super Bowls comes celebrations and with celebrations we know there’s a higher chance of alcohol being involved in parties,” Gardner said. “Our emphasis will be on drunk driving enforcement.”

In 2021, 354 fatalities occurred on Iowa roads. Almost 30 percent of those were related to impaired driving, according to Gardner.

“That’s one of the reasons we are going to try and hit this hard because we know there’s an increased chance for drunk drivers,” Gardner said.

The Iowa State Patrol is on a campaign to bring the number of fatalities on Iowa roadways under 300. Unfortunately, that number has gone up in each of the last three years.

“If there was a year we thought we would be below 300, it was during the pandemic but once the summer months hit our fatality rates and crash rates rose dramatically in the summer months,” Gardner said. “A lot of those were due to impaired and distracted driving. And speeds in the triple digits.”

Those will be the things law enforcement will be tracking on Sunday.

“We will look for speeders, people driving distracted or people not wearing their seat belts or committing stop sign violations,” Gardner said.

Gardner recommends finding a designated driver if you do decide to consume alcohol.

“We are encouraging people to get a designated driver so they can get home safe and avoid getting into a crash or getting arrested,” Gardner said. “We will be focusing on OWI enforcement. We want to make sure roadways are safe and attempt to reduce our crash rate. Hopefully people are more responsible when they are celebrating by getting a designated driver or calling a cab to get home safe.”

During the 2021 Super Bowl, the Iowa State Patrol conducted 49 traffic stops. Thirty speeding citations were issued. There were two arrest warrants and one driver was charged with an OWI in Webster County.

“This year we will ramp it up because we will have deputies,” Gardner said. “This is a multi-county effort in this project this time.”

Gardner said responsible driving increases a person’s chances for survival.

“By obeying the speed limit, wearing your seat belt and obeying traffic laws, you will increase your chance of survival tremendously,” he said.

Gardner is anticipating plenty of traffic on the roadways.

“If the roads are clear and the weather is dry that will bring some extra traffic out I’m sure,” he said.