Tag: national highway traffic safety administration

The Gilroy Police Department is reminding drivers about the dangers and consequences of texting and distracted driving. This annual campaign is part of the...

Law enforcement’s annual end-of-summer DUI crackdown resulted in 309 arrests throughout Santa Clara County, according to authorities.The arrests, all on suspicion of driving under the influence, were reported by sheriff’s office and police departments from Aug. 16 to the end of Labor Day, Sept. 2, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup. Some agencies had not yet reported their total DUI arrests for the period as of Wednesday morning. In 2012 during the same time period, local law enforcement agencies reported 390 arrests on suspicion of DUI, Stenderup said. The arrests were part of the annual “Avoid the 13” DUI crackdown, in which police place extra officers and resources on the roads during holiday weekends and other expected high-traffic times. The effort includes sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols and routine patrol by 13 law enforcement agencies throughout the County. Avoid the 13 is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Police are planning more Avoid the 13 anti-DUI efforts during the upcoming Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays, Stenderup said. 

Police throughout Santa Clara County arrested 57 motorists suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs during the first weekend of the annual Labor Day DUI crackdown campaign, according to a press release from the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. The arrests were made from just after midnight Friday through midnight Sunday, authorities said. The crackdown effort, known as “Avoid the 13,” included a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint at the intersection of Dunne Avenue and Joleen Way in Morgan Hill, where officers arrested one DUI suspect, according to Morgan Hill police. The Gilroy Police Department will conduct a similar checkpoint in Gilroy Friday night, also as part of the annual effort by local law enforcement to keep impaired drivers off the roads during one of the summer’s busiest holiday periods, according to police.Residents can receive real-time updates on checkpoint activities and DUI arrests by following the Sheriff’s Office on Twitter at @SCCOSHERIFF, according to Sheriff’s Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup. Funding for the Avoid the 13 campaign, which includes saturation patrols as well as checkpoint activities, is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, authorities said. The summer campaign will continue through midnight Monday, Sept. 2, according to the press release. 

As party-goers celebrate Cinco de Mayo with mariachi music and authentic cuisine this weekend, many will also indulge with their favorite margarita or tequila, then choose to get behind the wheel and drive to their next destination. That’s why this year the Santa Clara County Avoid the 13 DUI Task Force is joining with others across the state and nation to encourage everyone to plan ahead this Cinco de Mayo and not drink and drive, according to a press release from the Sheriff’s office.

Motorists will continue to see saturated police presence on the roads during holidays, as well as the occasional DUI checkpoints over the next year or so now that the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office received a grant for $180,000 from the California Office of Traffic Safety.