Council accepts grants to help Casper police tackle impaired driving, seat belt compliance
CASPER, Wyo. — The Casper City Council approved two grants worth $165,214 aimed at helping the Casper Police Department reduce needless deaths and injuries on Wyoming roadways due to impaired driving and failure to use proper restraints.
The council unanimously approved the resolution on the consent agenda at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 15.
According to the agreement, the CPD will carry out high-visibility enforcement campaigns aimed at changing the concerning driving behaviors. In those operations, officers take shifts dedicated to monitoring areas with high instances of DUI stops and crashes, CPD Chief Keith McPheeters confirmed to Oil City News at the meeting.
By monitoring those areas and pulling people over for moving violations or other observed infractions, police are more likely to stop an impaired driver or address occupant safety, including seat belt use and proper restraints for children, McPheeters said.
The money will go toward radar equipment and overtime pay so that officers can take shifts dedicated to the high-visibility operations, which are meant to inspire compliance.
“If the perception of the public is that, if they choose not to wear a seat belt, they’re likely to be issued a citation, that perception matters. We want people to know that we’re out there,” McPheeters said.
In Wyoming, impaired driving contributed to 40% of fatal crashes and 22% of crashes with injuries between 2019 and 2023, according to the memo included in the City Council packet. In 2023, 32.5% of all arrests were for DUI, with average blood-alcohol concentrations at twice the legal limit, and 13% were three times over the limit.
The packet also says that in 2023 Wyoming observed seat belt use rate was 81.9%, well below the national average of 91.6%. Natrona County was even worse at 77.8%, as observed by CPD between 2021 and 2023.
Of the 11 traffic fatalities in September 2024, only one person was wearing a seat belt, and two were on motorcycles, McPheeters said. Six were ejected or partially ejected from the vehicle.
McPheeters added that among the child passengers killed in crashes in 2022, more than a third were unrestrained.