FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Wisconsin is more than 6 weeks into its “Safer at Home” order.
State Patrol Sergeant Erik Heinz tells FOX 11 when it comes to the highways most people are listening.
“The motorists have been limiting their travel to essential trips during the public emergency. So overall, traffic volumes in Wisconsin are down almost 40%.”
Sgt. Heinz says traffic incidents have dropped too. But that’s not because troopers aren’t watching.
“As far as State Patrol goes, we are still out there. We’re working our same hours, we’re going to be enforcing the laws just like every other day. We’ve got to take precautions with what we come in contact with, but that’s why we’ve been handing out officers as much of the personal protective equipment as possible.”
“Safer at Home” also forced bars to shut down for the entire month of April.
Wisconsin State Patrol says statewide, its OWI citations issued last month are down 27% from April 2019.
But just because OWIs have decreased doesn’t mean people have stopped drinking. At Valley Liquor in Little Chute, employees say that they have seen a steady stream of people coming in and out from open to close.
“We’re seeing sales numbers like we do around 4th of July and Christmas. Almost every weekend. So they’ve been up a lot more than normal. We did record sales for the last couple of weeks,” Steve Smith with Valley Liquor told FOX 11.
When ity comes to OWI’s, the Brown County Sheriff’s Office had a 57% drop. OWI citiations from the Outagamie County Sheriff’s office fell 65%. The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office says OWI arrests dropped 62% this past April, compared to the same time last year.
