You Really Don't Want to Drink and Drive in Laguna Beach This Sunday

Laguna Beach police officers will be beefing up patrols this Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend in an effort to knab alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers.

According to an LBPD press release, these saturation patrols will be in operation starting Sunday night, Jan. 20, at 9 p.m., and continue for six hours until 3 a.m. Jan. 21, targeting areas of the city that have had high incidents of DUI arrests and accidents.

There will, however, be no checkpoint, in which cars are stopped and the drivers are asked if they've been drinking, according to LBPD Lt. Jeff Calvert.

"Over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have resulted in 60 injury crashes, harming 85 of our friends and neighbors," said Calvert.

According to the LBPD, conservatively, a DUI fatality has a $1.4 million impact, a DUI injury $70,000, and a DUI crash that only damages property averages nearly $9,000.

“California’s roadways are very much safer than they were before 2006,” said California Office of Traffic Safety 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.”