Full Notification

CHULA VISTA POLICE DEPARTMENT LAUNCHES PROGRAM
TO COMBAT DUI DEATHS AND INJURIES

Chula Vista Police Department has been awarded a new traffic safety grant for a year-long anti-DUI program aimed at preventing deaths and injuries on our roadways. New enforcement measures to combat impaired driving are coming as a result of a recent $ 182,000 grant awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety to Chula Vista. The Chula Vista Police Department is dedicated to keeping our streets safe through both enforcement and education.

Chief David Bejarano said the grant will assist his agency with their efforts. “DUI-related incidents have had a profound and lasting impact on the lives of those we serve. Any death is heartbreaking, but death at the hands of an individual who has made the conscious decision to drive while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is particularly tragic. This grant will enable our agency to further its efforts at eliminating these truly preventable tragedies.”

The special DUI Enforcement and Awareness grant is to assist in efforts to reduce the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol and other drug related collisions. The grant activities will specifically target impaired driving offenders as well as educate the public on the dangers of impaired driving. This will be done through the use of DUI/driver’s license checkpoints and stakeouts for repeat DUI offenders, saturation patrols, and court stings targeting DUI offenders with suspended or revoked driver licenses who get behind the wheel after leaving court.

Drunk driving is one of America’s deadliest crimes. In 2008, over 11,700 people died in highway crashes involving a driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. In Chula Vista, 55 percent of the fatal collisions in 2008 involved a driver with a BAC of .08 or higher.

“Last year in California 1,029 died in alcohol impaired crashes, a 9 percent reduction in deaths from 2007,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the Office of Traffic Safety. “This grant will help keep that trend going by getting drunk drivers off the roadways of Chula Vista, making it safer for everyone.”

New this year is the addition of 2 special Motorcycle Safety Enforcement Operations. Motorcycle fatalities have been on the rise in California, increasing 175 percent statewide in the last decade, from 204 killed in 1998 to 560 killed in 2008.

Chula Vista Police Officers will be conducting specialized enforcement efforts throughout the course of the next year. Extra officers will be on duty patrolling areas frequented by motorcycles. Officers will be cracking down on traffic violations made by motorcyclists, and other vehicle drivers, that result in far too many motorcycle collisions, injuries and deaths.

Funding for the grant comes from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.





“DRUNK DRIVING. OVER THE LIMIT. UNDER ARREST.”