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SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Highway Patrol says Utah drivers who fill up shopping carts with Wyoming fireworks are more likely to get pulled over once they drive back into the Beehive State.
UHP is running its usual fireworks sting for this time of year. It involves a plain-clothes trooper from the agency's Alcohol Enforcement Team who observe customers at fireworks stores in Evanston, Wyo.
"We do this a couple of times a year, of course around the Fourth of July and other fireworks times," UHP Col. Danny Fuhr told KSL's Doug Wright Wednesday morning.
The goal, Fuhr said, is to catch the "big fish" -- people filling up car trunks or SUVs with fireworks legal in Wyoming but illegal in Utah. He said officers first look for full shopping carts.
"A lot of them [have] the intention of coming back to Utah to re-sell those products," he explained.
Fuhr also stressed that the traffic stops along Interstate 80 are conducted by troopers on regular patrol in the area.
The fireworks sting does not come with a trade-off of having fewer troopers on the lookout for drunk drivers or working accident scenes.
Fuhr agreed the fireworks operation is comparable to speed enforcement. A driver going 5 miles over the speed limit could be pulled over, but troopers usually are waiting for drivers going 10 or 15 mph over the limit.
Fuhr said in two days there were 19 traffic stops inside the Utah border. In each case, he claims the busts were of stashes worth hundreds of dollars.
E-mail: athomas@ksl.com
