Fourth of July Reminder:
Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over
This Independence Day, as friends and family travel to picnics and barbecues across the country, the Newport Beach Police Department will join other local law enforcement, Sheriff Deputies, and the California Highway Patrol in the effort to stop impaired drivers by targeting those who put lives in danger. As you prepare to drive home from any festivities or celebrations, keep in mind that impairment by alcohol or drugs can be deadly. Remember: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over.
Officers from the Newport Beach Police Department will be deploying this weekend to stop and arrest alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers. DUI Saturation Patrols will deploy Friday through Monday (June 30 through July 3) between the hours of 6:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. in areas with high frequencies of DUI collisions and/or arrests. When possible, specially-trained officers will be available to evaluate those suspected of drug-impaired driving, which now accounts for a growing number of impaired driving crashes.
High Visibility Enforcement (including DUI checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols) has proven to lower the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol- or drug-impaired crashes. Research shows that crashes involving impaired drivers can be reduced by up to 20% when well-publicized, proactive DUI operations are conducted routinely. NHTSA data shows that young drivers (18 to 34 years old) are especially at risk of driving under the influence of alcohol. In fact, 49% of 18- to 34-year-old drivers who were killed over the July Fourth period in 2015 were driving drunk (BAC of .08 or higher).
In recent years, California has seen a disturbing increase in drug-related impaired driving crashes. The Newport Beach Police Department supports the new effort from the Office of Traffic Safety to educate all drivers that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.” If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a warning about driving or operating machinery on the label, you might be impaired enough to be arrested for DUI. Marijuana can also be impairing (especially when used in combination with alcohol or other drugs) and can result in a DUI arrest.
Plan your sober ride home before the party begins this July 4th weekend celebration. Drivers are encouraged to download the Designated Driver VIP, or “DDVIP,” free mobile app for Android or iPhone. The DDVIP app helps find nearby bars and restaurants that feature free incentives for the designated sober driver, from free non-alcoholic drinks to free appetizers and more.
The cost of a ride home is cheap. Drivers caught driving impaired can expect the impact of a DUI arrest to include jail time, fines, fees, DUI classes, license suspensions and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.
Funding for this DUI operation is provided to Your Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, reminding everyone to ‘Report Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1’.
