The Dragnet Against Drunk Drivers : Imaginative sheriffs’ program, backed by state aid, ratchets up the pressure

New laws and a less tolerant attitude in much of society have helped cut down on drunken driving, according to state officials. One successful approach worth watching is regionalizing the fight.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department now has a program specifically designed to find intoxicated motorists and get them off the road in the area patrolled by its City of Industry substation. The deputies patrol Industry, La Habra Heights and La Puente, cities that contract with the sheriff, as well as the adjacent unincorporated county territory.

In southern Orange County, an even bigger program has been under way for seven months. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department has deputies devoted exclusively to cracking down on drunken driving in seven cities it patrols. The program has now expanded to include sobriety checkpoints.

In both counties, money for the program has been provided by the Office of Traffic Safety, a state agency that funnels federal funds to localities. The Orange County cities of Dana Point, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel, Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano are also contributing $18,000 each during the two-year program. Since their inception, the patrols have accounted for one-quarter of the arrests for driving under the influence in the area. The DUI arrest total is up 15% during the period.

It makes sense for several patrol cars whose only job for the night is finding drunk drivers to be given as wide an area as possible. Spreading the net increases the chances of arrests and attacks a problem that does not recognize city boundaries.

The regional approach is part of a coordinated attack on the problem that has showed results. Four years ago, the amount of alcohol in the blood required before a motorist was presumed guilty of DUI was cut from .10% to 0.08%. Then police were given the right to take the driver’s licenses of those suspected of drunk driving. Last year, the California Supreme Court ruled that the location of sobriety checkpoints need not be publicized. And the public has been increasingly unforgiving of those who drink and drive.

Yet the California Highway Patrol reported that last year 1,569 people were killed and 42,936 injured in state accidents in which alcohol was a factor. If the regional approach helps cut those horrific statistics, it will be worth imitating in other jurisdictions where sheriff’s departments provide services to a group of communities.