DUI Enforcement Operation Planned Sunday in Laguna Beach

Submitted by the Laguna Beach Police Department:

Officers from the Laguna Beach Police Department will be deploying this weekend to stop and arrest alcohol and drug-impaired drivers in the Department’s ongoing traffic safety campaign.

DUI Saturation Patrols will deploy on Sunday, February 17th between the hours of 9:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. in areas with high frequencies of DUI collisions and/or arrests.

In California, this deadly crime led to 774 deaths in 2010 because someone failed to designate a sober driver.  After falling dramatically for five straight years, figures for 2011 indicate that DUI deaths remained the same as 2010.  “Over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have resulted in 60 injury crashes harming 85 of our friends and neighbors,” said Lieutenant Jeff Calvert.

DUI can impact the economy in addition to the pain and suffering of those immediately affected. Conservatively, a fatality has a $1.4 million impact, an injury $70,000, and a crash that only damages property averages nearly $9,000.

“California’s roadways are very much safer than they were before 2006,” said OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy.  “The Laguna Beach Police Department will be keeping the pressure on through enforcement and public awareness so that we can continue saving lives and reach the vision we all share – Toward zero deaths, every 1 counts.”

Funding for this program is from a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.