This Fourth of July, as friends and family travel to picnics and barbecues across the country, the Sacramento Police Department will be out stopping impaired drivers by targeting those who put lives in danger to keep your roadways safe. As you prepare to drive home from the festivities, keep in mind that impairment by alcohol or drugs can be deadly. Remember: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.

DUI Enforcement Officers will be deploying this weekend to stop and arrest alcohol and drug-impaired drivers.  DUI Saturation Patrols will deploy daily between the hours of 6:00 pm and 3:00 am in areas with high frequencies of DUI collisions and/or arrests. A DUI checkpoint will also take place during the weekend.

High visibility enforcement, using both DUI checkpoints and DUI saturation patrols, has proven to lower the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol or drug impaired crashes.  Research shows that crashes involving an impaired driver can be reduced by up to 20 percent when well-publicized, proactive DUI operations are conducted routinely.

Officers will be looking for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment.  When possible, specially trained officers will be available to evaluate those suspected of drug-impaired driving, which now accounts for a growing number of impaired driving crashes. 

NHTSA data shows that young drivers (18 to 34 years old) are especially at risk of driving drunk. In fact, 49 percent of the drivers 18 to 34 years old who were killed over the July Fourth period in 2015 were driving drunk (BAC of .08 or higher).

In recent years, California has seen an increase in drug-impaired driving crashes.  The Sacramento Police Department supports the new effort from the Office of Traffic Safety that aims to educate all drivers that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.”  If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a driving or operating machinery warning on the label, you might be impaired enough to get a DUI.  Marijuana use can also be impairing, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs, and can result in a DUI.

Plan your sober ride home before the party begins this July 4^th weekend celebration.  Drivers are encouraged to download the Designated Driver VIP, or “DDVIP,” free mobile app for Android or iPhone.  The DDVIP app helps find nearby bars and restaurants that feature free incentives for the designated sober driver, from free non-alcoholic drinks to free appetizers and more. 

The cost of a ride home is cheap.  Drivers caught driving impaired can expect the impact of a DUI arrest to include jail time, fines, fees, DUI classes, license suspensions and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

The Sacramento Police Departments DUI enforcement campaign is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reminding everyone to ‘Report Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1’.  Please direct any inquiries to Sergeant Chris Prince via email at cprince@pd.cityofsacramento.org or by telephone at (916) 808-6069. Media is encouraged to publicize the event to spread awareness about the impacts of drinking and driving.