Impaired Drivers Beware This Holiday Weekend

Don't even think about getting behind the wheel if you've been drinking or taking altering drugs this New Year’s weekend. Twenty-one different law enforcement agencies in Alameda County and the Bay Area aim to catch drunken and impaired drivers and educate motorists about the consequences of driving while impaired.

The seasonal enforcement campaign has been in effect since earlier this month and will continue through the first weekend of January 2022 with various patrols and checkpoints. Officer Thomas Gowin of the California Highway Patrol’s Castro Valley office reports only three DUI-related arrests during the Christmas weekend and zero fatalities.

In addition to the CHP, other agencies participating locally include the Alameda County Sheriff's Department, East Bay Regional Parks, and even BART Police. The law states a drunk driver is one with an illegal .08 blood alcohol concentration (BAC), however even buzzed driving can be considered drunk driving.

Traffic fatalities in the first half of 2021 are the highest they have been since 2006, according to the most recent data released on October 28, by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Preliminary estimates show that 20,160 people died on America’s roads through June 2021, an 18.4% increase over 2019, due in large part to speeding, impaired driving, and not wearing seatbelts, according to NHTSA.

While drunk driving continues to be the main source of traffic fatalities, recent NHTSA studies show an increase in the presence of other drugs in drivers who are tested. In 2019, the most recent FARS data available, 10,142 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes.

"The emerging problem of drugged driving focuses mostly on prescription medications that impair, both legitimately taken as prescribed and abuse," Chris Cochran, with the state Office of Traffic Safety, told the Castro Valley Forum. "People haven’t understood how it affects driving. It didn’t enter their mind that some of these strong drugs, the sleep aids, antidepressants, stimulants, all can be impairing."

Telltale signs of impaired drivers include those who weave and swerve in and out of lanes; travel at speeds much slower than the flow of traffic; straddle the centerline of the road or lane lines; and make sudden stops for signal lights and slow start once they change.

To stay safe on the roads this holiday weekend, Cochran suggests following the following tips:

-Agree on a designated driver

-Never let your family and friends drive drunk

-Avoid even "buzzed driving" which is still considered drunk driving

-Consider non-alcoholic beverages or mocktails in lieu of alcoholic beverages

-Utilize taxi services or public transportation

 Police, Sheriff, and the CHP encourage all motorists to help make your community safer. Report drunk drivers and call 911.