A total of 123 people were arrested throughout Monterey County and San Benito County for allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs.
From December 18 to January 3, a special campaign was initiated to bust drunk drivers around the aforementioned regions in California. The Salinas Police Station created the "Avoid the 20" DUI task force and went all out to catch drunk drivers during the holidays. This is in part of the national "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" campaign.
"DUI enforcement resulted in far too many drunk driving arrests countywide over the past 17 days," Salinas police Sgt. Gerard Ross said, as cited by KSBW.
"Fortunately, there were no deaths from a DUI traffic collision but there were four crashes caused by DUI drivers that caused four people to suffer injuries," Ross revealed.
The Salinas Police Department reports that last year there were 117 drivers arrested for DUI on the same period. Fortunately, there were no deaths but three drunk driver caused collisions with three people suffering injuries.
In an effort to avoid and discipline citizens, the Salinas PD published an open letter in their website to encourage people to drive sober. They have also warned that police, sheriff and CHP and all regular patrol officers will focus their efforts at arresting DUI drivers.
"Thousands of lives could be saved each year if everyone drove sober or caught a ride after drinking," Ross said.
Reportedly, during the 2014-15 holiday period, officers around the state made more than 1,100 DUI arrests in which 28 people died in collisions caused by this offense, Monterey Herald reports.
"Drunk driving is one of the deadliest crimes we face as a nation," CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow said in a news release.
Funding for this program was provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that continues to uphold its campaign: "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over."
