Memorial Day weekend DUI checkpoints

The Avoid the 6 DUI Campaign will be deploying officers this holiday weekend at DUI/Driver’s License Checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols to continue efforts toward arresting drunken drivers, lowering deaths and injuries, and educating the public about the dangers of impaired driving.

As the summer season kicks off at the end of May holiday travelers, college graduates and communities enjoying local festivities are warned that driving drunk won’t be tolerated.

The Avoid DUI campaigns are proving successful. Memorial Day weekend alcohol involved deaths and injuries over the past three years have dropped dramatically by more than 26 percent from Memorial Weekend 2007 to 2009.

Data for California over past Memorial Day weekends show 516 people were killed or injured in 2007, 431 in 2008 and 385 in 2009.

The enforcement campaign begins Friday night with a DUI/Driver’s License checkpoint in the city of Placerville.

More local DUI Saturation Patrols will be out on Saturday and Sunday nights in South Lake Tahoe and Placerville.

The California Highway Patrol is deploying extra officers Memorial Day weekend onto freeways and county roads in their jurisdiction.

In April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported another significant annual decline in traffic deaths in California; traffic safety experts are hopeful to report similar declines in alcohol impaired deaths for 2009 within several months. Funding for the Avoid Campaign is through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.