DUI arrests were down throughout the Bay Area over the Independence Day holiday, authorities said Thursday.

In Santa Clara County, only 34 people were arrested for DUI over the two-day period, compared to 81 arrests during the first two days of the same holiday in 2011, according to county law enforcement officials.

In San Francisco, police and California Highway Patrol officers arrested 13 DUI suspects over the two-day period on Tuesday and Wednesday, 25 percent below last year's total of 31 over four days. The decrease may have been due to the holiday falling mid-week this year, but could also be attributed to the outreach campaign by authorities to curb drunken driving, said Jan Ford, spokeswoman for Avoid anti-DUI campaigns coordinated between local law enforcement agencies.

"It was a mid-week holiday, but we've been sending out a lot of officers and just not finding as many impaired drivers," Ford said. "I think that people are getting the message of driving stone-cold sober every single time."

The state Office of Traffic Safety funds the Avoid campaigns through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

— Bay City News Service

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