Three law enforcement agencies will be teaming up this Fourth of July weekend to keep drunk and impaired drivers off the road.

Sergeant Greg Amundsen with the Missoula Police Department said his agency will be working in concert with the Missoula County Sheriff's Office and the Montana Highway Patrol this holiday weekend.

"We're all putting out extra patrols this year," Amundsen said. "We'll be looking for DUI's and just trying to keep the people who have been drinking off the roads and keep it safe for everybody else."

Amundsen said if drinking is sure to be a part of the weekend plans, just leave the car at home altogether.

"If you're going downtown or to a friend's house to celebrate, the best plan is to not even take your car," he said. "Take public transportation or a taxi or something like that , and it will remove the temptation to drive after you've become impaired."

Amundsen said the policy of all three law enforcement agencies is that no warnings will be issued for impaired drivers.

"If we stop you for DUI, you're going to get arrested for DUI. You will go to jail and have to face the judge."

From 2009 to 2013, nearly 40 percent of all traffic fatalities over the Fourth of July holiday occurred in alcohol-impaired-driving crashes. In 2013, Forbes magazine named the Independence Day holiday “the most dangerous holiday of the year.”

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