Full Notification

For Immediate Release
August 7, 2018
 
Contacts: Sergeant Scott Combs, Traffic Sergeant,
                   (310) 802-5166
                  Sergeant Tim Zins, PIO,
                   (310) 802-5186                                                                     
Date of Event:     Labor Day, September 3, 2018       
 
Subject:   Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over
 
Location:   Manhattan Beach, CA, 90266
                                               
This Labor Day, and Every Day: Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over
 
As we enter the final stretch of summer spending time at the pool or barbequing with friends and family, the Manhattan Beach Police Department is driving home the importance of celebrating responsibly by not driving, or riding a motorcycle, impaired.
 
From August 17^th through September 3^rd, the Manhattan Beach Police Department is participating in a high-visibility national enforcement campaign, Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over. During this period, Police and Sheriff’s Departments statewide, along with the California Highway Patrol, will increase the number of officers on the road to stop suspected drunk or drug impaired drivers and motorcyclists. If you are caught driving or riding impaired, you will be pulled over and arrested.
 
The enforcement campaign runs through the Labor Day holiday weekend, which is one of the deadliest times of the year in terms of alcohol-involved traffic deaths. Sadly, one-third of all traffic deaths involve drunk drivers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 10,497 people were killed in alcohol-involved collisions, or one person every 50 minutes.
 
The Manhattan Beach Police Department will show zero tolerance for impaired driving or riding, and joins the efforts of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) to educate drivers that “DUI Doesn’t Just Mean Booze.” If you take prescription drugs, particularly those with a driving or operating machinery warning label, you may be impaired enough to get a DUI.  Marijuana can also be impairing and result in a DUI, especially in combination with alcohol or other drugs.
 
In the ten years from 2005-2015, the percentage of drivers in fatal crashes with an impairing drug other than alcohol in their system has risen from 26.2 percent to 42.6 percent.  As far back as 2012, a roadside survey in California showed more drivers tested positive for drugs that may impair driving (14 percent) than did for alcohol (7.3 percent).