Law enforcement agencies across Northern California are scheduling a crackdown on drivers impaired by alcohol asot the long Fourth of July weekend begins.
Enforcement activities under the statewide AVOID anti-DUI campaign, including sobriety checkpoints and roving DUI patrols, are scheduled to begin tonight. The California Highway Patrol also has declared a Maximum Enforcement Period beginning tonight at 6 p.m. and continuing through Monday.
Throughout the weekend, the CHP will assign available officers to freeways, state highways and unincorporated roads to keep an eye out for motorists driving under the influence and encourage all motorists to use their seatbelts, according to a CHP news release.
Sacramento police reported they will conduct DUI saturation patrols throughout the city tonight in an effort to stop drivers impaired by alcohol. The police department also will hold a sobriety and driver's license checkpoint at 21st Street and Capitol Avenue on Sunday night, beginning at 8:30 p.m. and running for five to seven hours, according to a department news release.
Sacramento County's AVOID task force has scheduled a sobriety checkpoint Saturday night in Citrus Heights, on Auburn Boulevard north of Twin Oaks Avenue, according to Citrus Heights Police Department Officer Anthony Boehle. Citrus Heights police also will staff a saturation patrol Saturday night in the city, Boehle said.
The county task force will conduct another DUI saturation patrol in Galt on Sunday, according to a task force news release.
Placer County's DUI task force will hold a DUI checkpoint at an undisclosed location in Rocklin tonight, and at an undisclosed location in Lincoln on Saturday night, according to an AVOID news release. It will also conduct DUI saturation patrols in the county on Monday beginning at 4 p.m., the release states.
In El Dorado County, the South Lake Tahoe Police Department will hold a sobriety checkpoint on Lake Tahoe Boulevard tonight from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., the department reported.
South Lake Tahoe police and the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department will conduct extra roving DUI patrols in South Lake Tahoe beginning Saturday and continuing through Monday.
Law enforcement agencies in Yuba, Sutter and Colusa counties will also staff roving DUI patrols beginning tonight and lasting through Monday, according to an AVOID release.
A sobriety and driver's license checkpoint is also scheduled for tonight at an undisclosed location in the unincorporated area of Marysville from 6 to 11 p.m., according to the release.
The Fourth of July weekend is one of the deadliest holidays of the year when it comes to alcohol-related traffic fatalities, the California Office of Traffic Safety reported. Funding for the AVOID anti-DUI campaign is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
According to a CHP news release, during last year's Fourth of July Maximum Enforcement Period, 23 people were killed in vehicle collisions statewide and CHP officers made 1,438 arrests of drivers suspected of driving under the influence.
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