Law Enforcement Plans Cinco de Mayo Crackdown

The law enforcement agencies that make up Ventura County's Avoid the 14 enforcement group have issued a statement letting the public know they'll be watching for impaired and distracted drivers this weekend.

Following is the statement issued by Avoid the 14, nameed for the number of law enforcement agencies in the group:

Sheriff’s deputies, CHP officers and police officers in Ventura County will be on the lookout for drivers high on alcohol or drugs over the Cinco de Mayo weekend.

“California Highway Patrol area offices are aggressively seeking out DUI suspects and will field extra black-and-white units,” said Lt. Casey Cronin of the Ventura Area Command.

“We’ve seen a 54 percent increase in DUI injury collisions from 13 in the first four months of last year and 20 for the same time period this year,” he said. “This cannot be allowed to continue.”

Of course drivers need to be sober, and they should also realize that streets and freeways are bad places to multi-task, according to Cronin. He advocates concentrating solely on driving, and not being distracted by texting, talking on the phone, eating or fiddling with the stations on the car radio.

“Avoid the 14 will field other crackdowns over the Memorial Day and Independence Day holiday weekends,” said traffic Sgt. Randy Latimer of the Oxnard Police Dept., campaign coordinator.

Funding for Avoid the 14 comes from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which reminds everyone to report drunk drivers by dialing 911 on their cell phones.