DUI Holiday Patrols in OC: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over

This holiday season, Orange County Sheriff’s Department personnel will be out looking for drunk drivers (including those driving under the influence of drugs) as part of a special year-end Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement mobilization.

“Beginning December 16 and continuing into 2017, you will see stepped up enforcement for anyone driving impaired,” said Sergeant R. Wert. “We want to keep our roads safe for holiday travelers, so we will have zero tolerance for drunk or drugged driving.”

As part of the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement campaign, police departments, OCSD and the California Highway Patrol will set up Driving under the Influence (DUI) checkpoints and deploy DUI saturation patrols. Orange County Sheriff’s Department is conducting a DUI checkpoint event on Friday, December 16, 2016, and a DUI saturation patrol event on Friday, December 30, 2016, including various DUI enforcement events during the holiday season.

Prescription medication, marijuana and illicit drugs can impair judgment and result in a DUI arrest the same as alcohol. In 2014, 32,675 people were killed nationally in motor vehicle crashes. Of those crashes 9,967 people were killed due to an impaired driver. In California, total highway deaths were reported at 3,126 with 1,155 lives lost in alcohol and/or drug impaired collisions. If you’re caught driving impaired by alcohol or drugs, you could face jail time, fines, loss of a driver’s license, towing fees, and other DUI expenses, totaling approximately $10,000.

“Driving under the influence is not only costly, but can ruin the holidays for you, your family or someone else’s family,” said California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) Director Rhonda Craft. “Make the decision to drive sober or use our Designated Driver VIP (DDVIP) app to help find a safe ride home for yourself or your friends if you know they’ve been drinking.”

Drivers are encouraged to download the DDVIP mobile app for Android or iPhone. The DDVIP app helps find nearby bars and restaurants that feature free incentives for the designated sober driver. The feature-packed app even has social media tie-ins and even a tab for the non-designated driver to call Uber, Lyft or Curb.

For more information on the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over enforcement campaign and all OTS efforts, visit www.ots.ca.gov. To learn more about the DDVIP app, please visit the OTS Facebook at www.facebook.com/CaliforniaOTS or follow OTS on Twitter @OTS_CA.

Orange County Sheriff’s Department wants everyone to have a safe holiday season, and is calling on everyone to be alert; ‘Report Drunk Drivers – Call 911!

Funding for this holiday enforcement campaign is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.