Crackdown on Drunk Driving a Success, Sheriff’s Unit Says

A San Diego County Sheriff’s Department program to reduce drunk-driving accidents over the Christmas and New Year holidays was declared a success Friday, as only one injury accident involving a drunk driver occurred in San Diego County during the holiday weekends, the Sheriff’s Department said.

However, during the same period last year, there were no deaths or injuries in traffic accidents involving drunk drivers.

The Sheriff’s Traffic Accident Reduction Team (START), consisting of five officers trained to spot drivers under the influence of alcohol, concentrated on drunk-driving arrests from Nov. 29 to Dec. 31, 1989, the Sheriff’s Department said, making 140 arrests.

“Anytime you go through a period of time without traffic fatalities, you have a success,” said Deputy George Gardner. “The main purpose of this program was to reduce traffic fatalities.”

Lt. James Hartshorn, the sheriff’s traffic coordinator, said “START was an effort to try to do the same things that we did before, only more effectively and more efficiently.”

Officers stationed at sobriety checkpoints found a significant increase in the number of designated drivers and the use of taxis and limousine services during the 1989 holidays, Hartshorn said, indicating that education of the public has been effective.

The team conducted eight sobriety checkpoints in each of the cities that contract services with the Sheriff’s Department except Del Mar, which shared a checkpoint with Solana Beach. The team also patrolled the cities with the primary purpose of arresting drunk drivers.

Deputies on the team are trained to spot drunk drivers on first glance by looking at their eyes, Hartshorn said. Countywide, 680 drivers were booked for being under the influence of alcohol during the holidays.