CHP Targets Holiday Drunken Drivers
The California Highway Patrol, stepping up its efforts to catch drunken drivers during the holidays, will be using special mobile vans and conducting sobriety checkpoints in central Orange County this weekend.
“We always see an increase [in drunken driving] every holiday,” said CHP spokeswoman Denise Medina. “People have a tendency to go to office functions and celebrate, which is fine, but they forget they have to get home.”
The CHP will conduct a checkpoint in Sunset Beach tonight, northbound on Pacific Coast Highway north of Admiralty Way from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m., Medina said.
Also, in conjunction with several police departments, the CHP will use roving patrol vans throughout the county to catch motorists suspected of driving under the influence, Medina said.
“We’ll have a special crackdown, in particular in the area along Orangethorpe Avenue, for strictly DUI enforcement,” she said. “We’ll also have extra overtime units almost every night of the week and especially on weekends.”
In other holiday law enforcement efforts, the Santa Ana Police Department today will begin a program called “Don’t Shoot,” which is aimed at reducing celebratory gunfire over the holidays.
Shooting weapons in the air, a popular practice in the city during New Year’s celebrations, is a felony, police officials said.
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