Authorities say crackdown on drunken driving worked

Las Vegas Valley law enforcement agencies survived Labor Day weekend without having to investigate a single fatal vehicle wreck.

Authorities are crediting saturation patrols in keeping drivers in check. In the past two years, the Metropolitan Police Department has investigated six fatal crashes over the same holiday weekend. In 2004, there was one.

Las Vegas officers conducted a DUI checkpoint on Friday night and four major DUI saturation patrols during the weekend in different locations throughout the valley.

The police department netted 70 driving under the influence arrests and wrote more than 300 traffic citations.

The Nevada Highway Patrol, southern command, also didn't have to respond to a fatal traffic collision. Its officers arrested 37 people for DUI and wrote nearly 1,000 traffic citations.

Henderson police made 16 DUI arrests, and North Las Vegas police snagged 11. Neither agency worked a fatal traffic wreck over the long weekend.

Officers from the various agencies were able to work overtime because of grants from the Nevada Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.