Oneida County Sherrif's prepare for busy holiday weekend
RHINELANDER, Wis. (WJFW) - The busy travel season for Memorial Day weekend is officially here, it's also the unofficial start of the summer travel season as well, but more people on the road can also mean more problems especially for law enforcement.
The Oneida County Sheriff’s Department is preparing for the busy Memorial Day Weekend. Deputy Sheriff Andrew Berg is one of the many deputies that will be out in “full force” making sure people are safe.
"We will be enforcing traffic laws and apprehend people that are breaking the law and violating specific traffic laws," said Deputy Sheriff Andrew Berg.
AAA projects an estimated 720,000 Wisconsites will be driving this weekend which is almost 40,000 more than last year.
"Americans love to travel and we know that the pandemic put a put a big damper on that for a number of years, there is a lot of pent up demand to get out there and we are seeing that both on the roads and as well in the air," said Nick Jarmusz director of public affairs for AAA.
Some people will be in a hurry to get to their destination. On Friday a driver was pulled over on Highway 45 for going 25 MPH over the speed limit. If they had been under the influence there would be major consequences.
"He would have been pulled out of the vehicle, we would’ve performed our standardized sobriety test," said Berg. "If it was determined he was operating under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both, he would’ve been place under arrest and brought to our jail," said Andrew.
Deputy Sheriff Berg says while many will gather over the weekend, Oneida County Sheriff's want it to be done safely.
"Arresting people and searching for people who are driving drunk is a huge goal of ours for this weekend and to apprehend them and put them in our custody is going to be our main goal," said Berg.
AAA will be activating their free "Tow to Go program. If you're drinking they will transport you and your vehicle to a safe location with a 10-mile radius.