CARPINTERIA SOBRIETY CHECKPOINT, CHP FREEWAY SATURATION ON TAP FOR LAST LONG WEEKEND OF SUMMER

Santa Barbara County - SEPTEMBER 1st, 2010

A Saturday checkpoint in Carpinteria that starts at 7 p.m. and ends at 3 a.m. on Sunday is on the enforcement schedule for Avoid the 12 as it finishes out an 18-day crackdown that ends at midnight Monday.

DUI strike teams will be on the roads in Buellton, Lompoc, Santa Maria Solvang on Friday night. They will consist of two to four officers from various departments including Guadalupe, the Sheriff, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and UCSB.

Commanders of the three California Highway Patrol area commands in the county will send out all available officers to road duty. This effort is in effect throughout California, said Buellton CHP Sgt. Tom Mullen.

Since the crackdown began Aug. 20, deputies, CHP officers and police officers have brought in 118 DUI suspects, down 21 percent from149 last year at that time. The final total for the effort last year was 236 arrests and no DUI fatalities.

“We’re seeing fewer impaired drivers and more designated sober drivers across the board,” said sheriff’s Deputy Win Smith, Avoid the 12 coordinator. "That's exactly what we want to see. The deaths and injuries drunk and drugged drivers cause are completely preventable and utterly unnecessary. That's why they're so tragic."

Avoid the 12 is funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.