The Iowa State Patrol is celebrating keeping Iowans safer for 75 years.
The patrol dates back to 1935. Its beginnings are credited to Ola Babcock Miller, Iowa's first woman secretary of state. She launched a crusade aimed at unsafe vehicles, excessive speed and drunken drivers by creating a force of 15 motor vehicle inspectors within her office.
While the Depression-era mud roads have become high-speed highways, the patrol's core mission remains the same - reducing
injuries and fatalities.
Col. Patrick Hoye, who took over the patrol in 2007, says his agency has had to target its resources in these budget-tightening times by focusing on 22 counties where more traffic fatalities, accidents and violations occur.
