Highway Patrol will be increasing presence on dangerous highways
Highway Patrol will be increasing presence on dangerous highways
By MARVIN BAKER
EDITOR
Heavy traffic and an abmormal number of traffic fatalities has prompted the North Dakota Highway Patrol to commit to stepping up its patrols in northwestern North Dakota that includes N.D. Highways 23 and 8 and U.S. Highway 85.
According to Capt. Gary Orluck of the Minot District of the North Dakota Highway Patrol, starting Monday, the presence of Highway Patrol troopers will double on the three highways.
He said a traffic counter west of New Town shows that more people are traveling on N.D. 23 than on U.S. Highway 2 at Rugby which tells his office the percentage of traffic vs. patrolling needs to change.
“We recognize the issues on the fatalities,” Orluck said. “That whole area is humming with extra traffic and we want to attack it through education and enforcement.”
Orluck called northwestern North Dakota a “high profile” area, not just because of increased traffic, but because the number of traffic accidents and subsequent fatalities are far greater than any of the three other quadrants in North Dakota.
Orluck said there have been 38 fatalities in northwestern North Dakota through Sept. 10, which is significantly higher than what the average should be.
