The Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau, part of the Iowa Department of Public Safety, is already reminding Iowans to be safe this St. Patrick’s Day in two weeks and extra law enforcement will be on the roads. According to the Bureau there has been a spike in drunk-driving fatalities near the holiday, with an average of 68 drunk driving kills across the country.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in 2013, 40-percent of crash fatalities during St. Patrick’s Day weekend involved drunk drivers. That number increased to 55 percent between midnight and 6 a.m. on March 18th. Nearly 75 percent of those fatalities involved drunk drivers who were twice the legal limit. I

Iowans are reminded to have a designated driver, call for a ride or use public transportation to get home safely. The average cost of an OWI, operating while intoxicated, is $10,000.