Montana Highway Patrol officers who cover Mineral, Missoula, Ravalli and Sanders Counties took 13 drunk drivers off the road during the week leading up to Labor Day weekend.
Captain Jim Kitchen says officers working special enforcement overtime focused their efforts on impaired driving and seatbelt enforcement:
"The guys here in district one did a pretty good job; got a lot of D.U.Is off the road. We did have a wrong-way driver last night that ended up crashing out in the Clinton area. That person was impaired. We got a few seatbelts...most people are really taking care of that, they're using them on high-speed roads - the interstate. But where we're seeing a lot of issues is on secondary highways and county roads as far as seatbelt use goes."
Kitchen says distracted driving - people using cell phones while behind the wheel - continues to be a persistent problem as well.