Local police officers, the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol are reminding residents they’ll be out in “full force” this holiday season, promising to find and arrest drunken drivers, according to a press release.
Beginning Friday, law enforcement officials countywide are setting up DUI/driver’s license checkpoints as part of a Winter Holiday Anit-DUI Campaign intended to spread a simple, nationally adopted message: “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.” The additional DUI enforcement will be in effect through Jan. 2, according to the Sheriff’s department.
“You cannot spread holiday cheer from behind the bars of a jail cell,” Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner said in the press release. “Don’t let your 2011 holiday season end in an arrest or worse, death. Remember, whether you’ve had way too many or just one too many, it’s not worth the risk.”
Officials also are asking residents who feel friends or family are under the influence to prevent those people from getting behind the wheel.
The DUI/driver’s license checkpoints will placed in locations “that have the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged driving deterrence,” the Sheriff’s department said.
Officers will be observe drivers passing through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol or drug impairment, and grant-funded drug recognition experts will be staffing most of the stops.
The “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” crackdown is led by the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For statewide and local DUI enforcement schedules and daily DUI arrest/fatal stats, visit www.californiaavoid.org.
– Plan a safe way home before the festivities begin
– Before drinking, designate a sober driver and leave your carkeys at home
– If you’re impaired, use a taxi, call a sober friend or familymember, or use public transportation
– Use your community’s sober ride program
– If you happen to see a drunk driver on the road, don’thesitate to contact your local law enforcement by calling 911
– If you think they’ve had too much to drink, they probablyhave. Help him or her make other arrangements to get homesafely.
