Police and highway patrol officers are out in force throughout the Bay Area for an Independence Day holiday weekend crackdown on drunk and impaired drivers.
In Santa Clara County, extra patrols are planned in cities including Palo Alto, Mountain View, Milpitas, San Jose and Santa Clara.
Nationally, 410 people were killed in motor vehicle crashes during the Fourth of July weekend in 2009, and 40 percent of those deaths involved drivers who were legally drunk. Seven were killed in DUI-related wrecks in California that year and another 352 were injured.
Drivers are urged to plan a safe way home before festivities begin, designate a sober driver and give them the keys, or call a taxi, use public transit or call a sober friend or family member if they are intoxicated. Also, don’t hesitate to report drunk drivers on the road by calling 911.
Meanwhile, East Palo Alto police are taking a “zero tolerance” approach to fireworks in the city over the holiday weekend. The city’s ShotSpotter gunshot detection system will track the locations fireworks are being used, according to a police department press release.
“Officers will be directed to those locations to confiscate all fireworks and issue citations for all violators, including citing the parents of minors caught possessing and/or using fireworks,” the release states.
All fireworks are prohibited in East Palo Alto, including “the so-called ‘safe and sane’ fireworks,” the release states.
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Drunks risking the lives of innocent people should be caught.
Drinking and driving is so selfish. If the current penalties are not stiff enough, then make them tougher. Mandatory jail time after the first conviction!