This holiday season, the Sacramento Police Department will be out in force cracking down on impaired drivers with special DUI/Drivers License Checkpoints and Saturation patrols.  A checkpoint is scheduled for Friday December 20^th on 21^st Street near Capital Ave to help keep roads safe for holiday travelers. It will begin at 7:30 p.m. and run for 5 to 7 hours.  

Data shows that the holiday season is a particularly deadly time due to the increased number of drunk drivers on the roads, and the Sacramento Police Department is prepared to stop and arrest any drunk driver they see to keep roads safe.  Nationally in the five years from 2007 to 2011 there were 4,169 people killed during the month of December in crashes that involved drivers with Blood Alcohol Concentrations (BAC) of .08% or higher.

In California during those same five Decembers, 505 were killed and thousands seriously injured. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 32,367 people were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes across the nation in 2011, and 31 percent (9,878) of those fatalities occurred in drunk-driving-related crashes.  Californians witnessed at total of 2,835 deaths with 774 killed in DUI crashes on their streets and highways. Please follow these tips to keep the holidays safe and happy:

Even one drink can impair your judgment and increase the risk of getting arrested for driving drunk or worse, the risk of having a crash while driving.                        

If you will be drinking, do not plan on driving.  Plan ahead; designate a sober driver before the party begins.  

If you have been drinking, do not drive. Call a taxi, phone a sober friend/family member, or use public transportation

Be responsible. If someone you know is drinking, do not let that person get behind the wheel.

If you see an impaired driver on the road, contact law enforcement, your actions may save someone's life

Funding for this Checkpoint provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that reminds everyone: Report Drunk Drivers!  Call 9-1-1. Please direct any inquiries to Sergeant Chris Prince at (916) 808-6069.