Arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs are
on the rise in Morgan Hill, a factor that police attribute
partially to more directed enforcement and better attention paid to
unsafe drivers.
Arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs are on the rise in Morgan Hill, a factor that police attribute partially to more directed enforcement and better attention paid to unsafe drivers.
From January to July of this year, Morgan Hill police arrested 134 people for DUI offenses, according to statistics provided by the police department. During the same time last year, police arrested 93 DUI suspects in Morgan Hill. That’s an increase of about 44 percent.
“That number is up significantly,” Police Chief Bruce Cumming said. “That certainly could mean we’re doing a better job in detecting (DUIs), but it could mean there are a lot more people out there drinking and driving.”
Either way, Cumming said in the last couple of years, officers have become more adept at noticing potentially impaired drivers who disobey traffic laws. Plus, heightened enforcement around holiday weekends typically nets more DUI suspects than usual.
During the four-day Labor Day weekend this year, which Cumming said is “one of the deadliest weekends of the year for drunk drivers,” MHPD officers arrested four DUI suspects.
The holiday-heavy months of Dec. 2008 and Jan. 2009 were Morgan Hill’s busiest for suspected impaired driving arrests in the last year, as those two months saw 70 and 28 arrests, respectively. Such heightened enforcement efforts, which consist of road blocks and overtime for traffic officers, are coordinated each year countywide in the “Avoid the 13” campaign that is funded by state grants.
Throughout 2007, the latest full year for which statistics are available, all 13 law enforcement agencies in Santa Clara County arrested 6,637 DUI suspects, according to the California Department of Justice.
Cumming noted that arresting impaired drivers is an effective way to make the roads safer for motorists and their passengers.
“(Drunk drivers) continue to kill or injure thousands of people throughout the nation,” Cumming said.
In July, there were two accidents with injuries reported on Morgan Hill roads in which a driver was suspected of DUI. MHPD also reported 13 other accidents involving impaired drivers that did not result in injuries so far this year.
Nationwide in 2008, it is estimated that 11,773 people died in drunk driving-related accidents, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Gilroy police reported a traffic incident Saturday in which a suspected impaired driver hit a 2-year-old pedestrian and almost ran over the child in Christmas Hill Park. If it weren’t for nearby citizens who stopped the slow-moving car by jumping on its hood and reaching in the driver’s window to pull the keys out of the ignition, the child could have suffered severe injuries or been killed, according to Gilroy Police Sgt. John Sheedy.
In the state of California, it is a misdemeanor for anyone of legal drinking age to operate a vehicle if their blood-alcohol content is .08 or higher. Drivers younger than 21 may not operate a vehicle with any detectable trace of alcohol in their system.
Hypothetically, a 170-pound male would have a blood alcohol content of at least .08 if he had four alcoholic beverages in one hour, according to the Web site for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, an anti-drunk driving advocacy organization.
Furthermore, impaired drivers convicted of driving with a BAC of .15 or higher may be subject to stiffer penalties in California, as are impaired drivers who cause accidents, injuries or fatalities.
And the penalties are harsher with each repeat DUI offense. Morgan Hill Police arrested a suspected impaired driver Monday night who has three prior DUI convictions since 2002. The fourth offense for which he was booked Monday would be a felony, according to Detective Ken Howard.
When officers arrested the suspect, Louis A. Sabala, 50, he had to be transported to Saint Louise Regional Hospital because of the high concentration of alcohol in his system, Howard said.
“When someone gets arrested once (for DUI), there’s a potential they’ve done it several times,” Howard said. “That’s a good person to get off the streets.”
