Crime & Safety

Holiday DUI's Up 20% from Last Year, 2 Reported Deaths

From Dec. 16-26, numerous county law enforcement agencies booked hundreds of people on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The Winter Holiday Anti-DUI crackdown has resulted in more DUI arrests from local traffic enforcement and special "Avoid the 14" DUI deployments over a two week period in San Diego County. In the past 11 days, from 12:01 a.m. Friday Dec. 16 through midnight, Monday Dec. 26 , deputies/officers representing 14 County law enforcement agencies booked 534 people for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.  In 2010, 444 DUI bookings occurred during the same time period. This is an increase of 20%.

Tragically, over the same time period there have been two reported deaths attributed to drunk driving in our area.  A suspected drunk driver lost control on the freeway and died from his injuries on I-15 near Mira Mesa.  Another suspected drunk driver was killed after he lost control of his vehicle on I-5 near Sea World.

All regularly scheduled traffic and patrol deputies/officers will focus efforts at stopping and arresting DUI drivers during their normal shifts during the Mobilization Period.  Multiple/DUI Driver’s License Checkpoints, multi-agency DUI Task Force operations and local roving DUI patrols are set region-wide during the 17 day Winter Holiday Campaign. 

Find out what's happening in Carlsbadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Sheriff, Police and the CHP encourage all motorists to help Law enforcement: Report Drunk Drivers – Call 911.  DUI arrest data collection will continue through New Year’s Weekend, midnight Sunday, January 1, 2012.  Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. 

–Press Release from the San Diego County Sheriff's Department 

Find out what's happening in Carlsbadwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.