GOLDEN, Colo. — State highways have been safer for more than 100 days after Colorado State Patrol (CSP) troopers set a goal of preventing impaired driving-related fatalities for at least that long.
Troop 1A, 1E — which encompasses Jefferson, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties — met that goal on Halloween, according to CSP Captain Justin Williams.
“There was a couple times where we had to reset. There was a few times where we had, we hit, like, 60 days, and we were feeling really good, and then we had to reset again,” Capt. Williams said.
As of Monday, the team is up to 153 days.
“Very often we see the other side of it where we see a family completely torn apart because of an impaired driver has taken someone from their lives. And that's all encompassing. The family of the impaired driver even faces that, and that's what we see,” Captain Williams said. “We see the impact that that makes on a family, and I think that's where the care comes from. You see that up close and personal, and you say, I don't want that to happen again.”
Captain Williams attributes the success to the troopers implementing more sobriety checkpoints.
He said they had an increase in impaired driving arrests this year and a decrease in overall DUI crashes.
