Colorado, Keep The Booze Out Of Your Halloween Driving Plans This Weekend

(CBS4) - With only a few days until Halloween, Colorado law enforcement agencies are stepping up patrol for suspected impaired drivers. Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies will start a county-wide DUI saturation operation on Friday.

"Recent statistics indicate that DUI crashes are still in the top four causal factors for traffic related injuries and deaths in CO," they stated on social media.

More than 80 agencies will participate in The Heat Is On DUI enforcement period starting on Friday through Monday.

The Colorado Department of Transportation is among those agencies. They're asking drivers to slow down and be on high alert especially regarding trick-or-treaters.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports almost half of all fatal crashes on Halloween night involve a drunk driver. The group also says the most child pedestrians die on Halloween each year, and they are three times more likely to be hit and killed by a car on that day compared to any other day.

CDOT says it's recorded 194 deadly crashes involving impaired drivers; a 15% jump from 2020.

Last year, 95 law enforcement agencies arrested 202 suspect impaired drivers during the Halloween weekend.