CHP, Police Credit Their Crackdown on Drunken Drivers
Ryan Kim, The San Francisco Chronicle
The number of people who died on the state’s roadways over the Labor Day weekend fell sharply from last year while the death toll on the Bay Area’s roads was the same, authorities said Tuesday.
Statewide, traffic deaths fell to 45 during the three-day weekend that officially began at 6 p.m. Friday and ended at midnight Monday, compared to 54 fatalities during the Labor Day weekend last year, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Highway Patrol officials credited much of the decline in deaths to stepped-up enforcement of drunken-driving laws.
The CHP arrested 1,563 people for driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol across the state over the weekend, compared to 1,377 in 2001. In the nine Bay Area counties, the number of arrests for driving under the influence by the CHP increased to 265, up from 178 in 2001.
Local law enforcement agencies in the Bay Area arrested another 263 people for driving under the influence, officials said.
“That’s outstanding. The officers are making a difference and the roadways are a little safer,” said CHP Sgt. Wayne Ziese.
In addition to the 528 Bay Area arrests, there were 22 alcohol-related injury accidents, authorities said.
Throughout the Bay Area, about 125 law enforcement agencies joined forces and conducted 19 sobriety checkpoints over the long weekend and deployed an additional 3,000 officers on the streets in search of drunken drivers, said Burlingame Police Chief Gary Missel.
“There was a tremendous police effort and it was an effort well worth it,” said Missel.
Three people died in three separate accidents on Bay Area roadways.
On Saturday at about 3:45 a.m., 29-year-old Eric Clausing of Livermore hit the center divider of Interstate 580 in Livermore and his car rolled over. Authorities said they found alcohol containers at the scene.
Gerald Johnson, 55, of San Francisco was killed at Sixth and Mission streets in San Francisco Saturday evening when he was hit by a taxi while walking across the street.
On Sunday afternoon, Lynda G. Talbot, 53, of Sonoma died when her truck crashed into a ditch and a tree off of Highway 12 in Sonoma County.
Of the 35 fatalities handled statewide by the CHP, 23 victims were not wearing seat belts, Ziese said.
“Some people are still not getting the message,” he said. “Ninety-one percent of the people in California are buckling up but at least 23 people didn’t get the message this weekend.”