Designate A Driver for New Year's Festivities

12/27/2007

 It’s the perfect time to designate a hero: the sober driver who will get everyone else home after Monday’s New Year’s Eve festivities, says Deputy Win Smith of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept., coordinator of the Avoid the 12 cooperative DUI crackdown.


“Be sure that you have confirmed this with your hero by this weekend,” he said. “It’s never too early, but once you get to the party and start drinking, it’s definitely too late. Alcohol robs even the most level-headed people of their good judgment.”


Officers in the county have arrested 110 DUI suspects so far in the 19-day campaign that began Dec. 14, compared with 99 at the same time last year. DUI suspects have killed no one.


Both Lompoc Police and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Dept.plan sobriety checkpoints for Friday night starting at 7 p.m. and ending around 2 a.m.


CHP cruisers will flood the freeways starting Friday night and ending on New Year’s Day, as nearly all available officers are assigned to the road during the patrol’s maximum enforcement period.?


The California Office of Traffic Safety funds Avoid the 12 and all 40 other similar crackdowns through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.