Preliminary information gathered by the Oregon State Police and the Oregon Department of Transportation show an increase over last year in traffic fatalities during the New Year’s holiday period which ran from 6 p.m. Wednesday through midnight Sunday.

ODOT’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) reports information received from Oregon law enforcement agencies and indicates seven people were killed in five separate crashes. This was an increase from last year’s holiday period when five people died in four crashes. During the 2007 holiday period there were four reported fatalities.

Slick roads were a contributing factor in four of this year’s fatal crashes. Driver impairment is a noted contributing factor in one of the crashes.

None occurred in Linn or Benton county.

Preliminary reports from OSP troopers show that 85 drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants. Last year, there were 98 DUII arrests.

Extra OSP troopers were on patrol during the holiday period, using overtime grant funding provided by ODOT to target impaired drivers.

Democrat-Herald