No Traffic Fatalities Over July 4 Weekend

Ventura County’s holiday weekend traffic deaths, accidents and alcohol-related collisions declined slightly compared with last year, while drunken driving arrests increased marginally, California Highway Patrol officials said.

The patrol recorded no fatalities on county freeways and in unincorporated areas from 6 p.m. Wednesday until midnight Sunday. That compares with two for the same period last year, CHP spokesman Dave Cockrill said.

There were 25 traffic accidents--two fewer than last year--and two alcohol-related collisions compared with four in 1995, he said. Arrests for drunken driving rose from 31 to 34.

Despite the slight fluctuations in the figures, the Fourth of July weekend proved typical of recent years, Cockrill said. However, statistics from a decade ago suggest county residents may have gotten the message about the dangers of drinking and driving.

The patrol recorded 46 drunken driving arrests during the 1986 July 4 weekend, 12 more than this year. Fewer officers on the roads may be partly behind the diminishing arrests, Cockrill said, but a reduction in driving-under-the-influence charges is nevertheless an encouraging sign.

“I think it’s great the DUI arrests are going down, and I hope it’s because people aren’t drinking and driving,” he said. “We got 34 people off the street this year before they caused any trouble, which is certainly a good thing.”