California DUI CHP Holiday Enforcement Information

The California Highway Patrol announced that up to 80 percent of its California DUI officers will be on the road looking for California DUI / drunk drivers during the "holiday maximum California DUI enforcement period."

Unless you'd like to ring in 2008 on a roadside or in a local jail with California DUI law enforcement officers, have a designated driver if you are going to be out partying over the holidays, CHP Commissioner Mike Brown related.

The anti-drunk driving effort is funded through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Funding will pay for overtime as well as 100 sobriety/driver license California DUI checkpoints and 65 California DUI / Drunk Driving task force operations during 2008.

According to the CHP, statewide last year, 1,597 people were killed in California DUI alcohol-related crashes and 197,248 people were arrested for California DUI or Drunk Driving / DWI.

CHP will be doing everything they can to end this California DUI carnage on California's roadways, Commissioner Brown warns.
California DUI Attorneys' Drunk Driving statistics:

The average cost of a California DUI alcohol-related fatality in California: $3.8 million.

Number of people arrested for California DUI in 2006: 197,248.

Number of people injured in California DUI crashes: 31,099

Number of people killed in California DUI crashes: 1,597

Number of people killed in during New Year's weekend: 38.

Average blood alcohol content for someone convicted of a California DUI : 0.16.

California DUI Legal BAC limit: .08.

Sources: CHP, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Report California DUI - drunk drivers

The CHP urges local residents to report suspected California DUI / drunk drivers. California DUI lawyers are needed when drivers behave certain ways. Those driving under the influence of alcohol will sometimes exhibit one or more of some of the following behaviors:

• weaving or zigzagging across the road

• driving off the road

• turning abruptly or illegally

• following others too closely

• signaling that is inconsistent with driving actions

• slow response to traffic signals, including sudden stops and delayed starts

• driving with headlights off.
Just because the California DUI CHP officer stops such a person does not necessarily mean he had probable cause to detain and/or arrest for a California DUI. Consult a California DUI lawyer for assistance on this issue.

To report California DUI / drunk drivers, the CHP offers these guidelines:

• Call 911 and tell them you wish to report a drunk driver. You do not have to give your name.

• Give the exact location of the vehicle, include the name of the road or cross streets and the direction the vehicle is traveling.

• Give a complete description of the vehicle, such as make, model, color and license plate.

• Describe the manner in which the vehicle is being driven.

• Do not follow or try to stop the car or detain the driver. Leave that to California DUI CHP / law enforcement officers.

AAA to offer 'tipsy tow' every New Year's Eve

To avoid intoxicated people hitting the road New Year's Eve weekend, AAA of Northern California is once again offering its 'tipsy tow' program.

The service provides a one-way ride of up to five miles for the driver and his or her vehicle via a local tow truck. One passenger is welcome to take the ride to the driver's home as long as there is room.

AAA will offer the service to anyone, not just AAA members, from 6 p.m. on New Year's Eve to 6 a.m. on New Year's day. Drivers, potential passengers, party hosts, bartenders and restaurant managers can call 1-800-222-4357 to arrange a free, safe ride. That, in turn, would avoid the cost of a California DUI Attorney.

Source: AAA of Northern California.

California DUI attorneys would like to remind drivers to stay off their cell phone, do not play with their navigation system, leave their radio alone and do not engage in a conversation which would distract one's ability to focus on properly driving. Because if you do, you run the risk of needing to retain a qualified California DUI lawyer.