Police Out in Force This Holiday Weekend Looking for Drunken Drivers

The long Fourth of July holiday weekend is a time for barbecue and play, but police services in Orange County won't be fooling around.

Police throughout the county will take an aggressive approach in cracking down on impaired drivers on what is annually one of the biggest weekends for drunken driving.

A roving DUI task force will be in Sheriff's Department contract cities throughout the weekend, seeking out drivers who have had too much to drink. Rancho Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo are among those contract cities.

During the past 25 years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, nearly half of all fatal automobile accidents that occur over the July 4 holiday weekend involve alcohol.

Two years ago, 410 people nationally were killed in traffic collisions over the Fourth of July weekend, and nearly 40 percent of those involved drivers with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08 or higher. In California, seven people were killed in DUI-related crashes, and 352 were injured.

“The summer holidays are some of the deadliest time periods on our roadways, so everyone must remember to be responsible and plan ahead; use a designated sober driver,” said Chris Murphy, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. “Just know everyone traveling down the road near you has a cell phone and will call 911 to report a suspected drunk driver.”

The weekend represents a maximum enforcement period for the California Highway Patrol; it will assign all available officers to the region’s freeways, state highways and unincorporated roads beginning at 6 p.m. today and continuing through midnight Monday.

Extra DUI roving patrols will be assigned by police departments within the cities of Brea, Buena Park, Garden Grove, Irvine, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Orange, Placentia, Santa Ana, Yorba Linda and the Police Department of Cal State Fullerton.

There will be sobriety checkpoints tonight from 6:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. in Aliso Viejo; 7 p.m. and 3 a.m. in Brea; and Saturday in Irvine from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Culver Drive.

Police recommend that you report drunken drivers by calling 911.