Ind. — With the arrival of the holiday season and AAA predicting an increase of travelers this Thanksgiving weekend, Indiana State Police troopers are participating in the Safe Family Travel campaign.
Over the next six weeks, officers will increase patrols to discourage impaired driving and ensure drivers and passengers are properly buckled.
"Driving impaired, not wearing a seat belt and speeding are always concerns around this time of year and our Troopers will be searching for the few, who endanger the many, by driving impaired," said Lieutenant Paul Bucher, commander of the Indiana State Police Bloomington Post.
Earlier this week, a Fort Wayne man was arrested after troopers found five unrestrained children, ages 4-11, in the backseat of a vehicle. Troopers say he was also operating the vehicle while intoxicated.
ISP says as of early October, 683 people have died in crashes across the state. That's an 8% increase from the same time in 2019 and on pace with 2020.
Of those killed, more than 40% were not wearing seat belts. Troopers say seat belt use in Indiana declined for the first time in five years from 94.9% before the pandemic to 92.9%.
