Holiday Weekend Drunk Driving Crackdown in Effect Through Monday

By Bay City News Service

Bay Area California Highway Patrol and police agencies will be out in force this holiday weekend as part of a statewide crackdown on drunk and dangerous drivers.

In San Francisco, law enforcement agencies had made 85 drunk driving arrests as of Thursday as part of a summer crackdown that started Aug. 17th and extends through Monday. That number is about a third lower than last year's tally, according to spokeswoman Jan Ford.

Sobriety checkpoints are scheduled in the city for today and Sunday in North Beach.

To the south, in San Mateo County, officers have made 129 DUI arrests during the enforcement period, down from the 151 made during the same period in 2011. There have been no DUI deaths or major injury collisions as of Thursday, officials said.

A sobriety checkpoint is planned for the city of San Bruno this holiday weekend, and DUI saturation patrols are planned in areas including Brisbane, Daly City, Menlo Park, San Bruno, San Mateo and South San Francisco.

In Santa Clara County, DUI arrests are also down, with 251 reported as of Thursday night compared to 293 last year.

Sobriety checkpoints are planned for Saturday in San Jose and Milpitas.

In Sonoma County, three DUI checkpoints are planned for the holiday weekend.

In Solano County, 35 people had been arrested for DUI as of Thursday night, sharply down from the 75 arrested in the same period last year. A DUI checkpoint is planned for Dixon tonight, from 6 p.m. until midnight, and additional patrols are planned in cities including Vallejo, Suisun, Vacaville, Fairfield and Dixon.

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