Police Crack Down on Drunk Drivers July 3-4

Law enforcement promises to be out in force on the July 4th holiday.

Santa Clara County's Avoid the 13 DUI Task Force’s officers will be conducting an aggressive anti-drinking and driving enforcement blitz during the Fourth of July holiday beginning Tuesday, July 3.

The effort will include multiple sobriety checkpoints and DUI patrols, according to a press release issued by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department.

The DUI Task Force plans to deploy special DUI saturations patrols on Tuesday, July 3 and Wednesday, July 4 each evening late into the night, the release stated.

The California Highway Patrol also announced a similar blitz during those two days.

Last year during the Independence Day  blitz, 34 people were killed in traffic collisions in California. This was a significant increase from the 23 people who died in 2010, the last full year for which statistics are available, the CHP said. 

With Independence Day falling on Wednesday this year, many residents will be taking the rest of the week off so DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols will be out in force throughout the weekend, the release added.

DUI saturation patrols are planned for:

Campbell Police: July 3, 6-7

Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office: July 3

Santa Clara Police: July 4

Morgan Hill Police: July 6

Impaired-driving crashes killed more than 10,000 people in 2010, accounting for 31 percent of all traffic-related fatalities in the United States, according to the release. That’s an average of one alcohol-impaired-driving fatality every 51 minutes.

The Avoid the 13 DUI Task Force reminds everyone that there are numerous consequences as a result of being caught driving impaired, such as the risk of killing or harming others, jail time, insurance hikes, potential loss of driver’s license, just to name a few.

It offered the following tips for a safe Fourth of July celebration:

• Plan a safe way home before the fun begins
• Before drinking, designate a sober driver
• If you’re impaired, use a taxi, call a sober friend or family member, or use public transportation
• If you happen to see a drunk driver on the road, report them by calling 911
• If you know someone who is about to drive or ride while impaired, take their keys and help them make other arrangements to get to where they are going safely.

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