Police arrested 99 motorists countywide on suspicion of driving
under the influence of alcohol or drugs from midnight Aug. 20
through midnight Tuesday as the Avoid the 13 campaign kicked off,
according to preliminary numbers released Tuesday. That is fewer
than the 137 who were arrested during the same four-day period last
year. Morgan Hill police arrested three suspected drunken drivers,
while Gilroy arrested two.
Morgan Hill
Police arrested 99 motorists countywide on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs from midnight Aug. 20 through midnight Tuesday as the Avoid the 13 campaign kicked off, according to preliminary numbers released Tuesday. That is fewer than the 137 who were arrested during the same four-day period last year. Morgan Hill police arrested three suspected drunken drivers, while Gilroy arrested two.
The program began Friday and will continue through midnight Sept. 6.
The arrests were the result of the ongoing Avoid the 13 campaign, characterized by heightened enforcement of drunken driving violations. Thirteen agencies in the county, including the Morgan Hill Police Department, Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department and the California Highway Patrol, participate in the annual holiday DUI crackdown.
The Avoid Anti-DUI Program was launched in the winter of 1973 to bring law enforcement agencies together in countywide clusters to crack down on suspected drunken drivers in an effort to reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused by alcohol related crashes. It is funded annually by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
– Ivan Silveira Aguilarte, Special to the Times
