CHP New Year’s crackdown in effect until Tuesday night
An end-of-year crackdown targeting drunken and drug-impaired drivers in Riverside County got underway Friday night and will continue through Tuesday evening.
The California Highway Patrol will initiate its New Year’s “maximum enforcement period” at 6 p.m., when all available officers deploy to catch impaired motorists, speeders and other traffic violators.
Officers from the Riverside, Beaumont, Blythe, Indio and Temecula CHP stations will be on Inland Empire freeways, highways and unincorporated roads, looking to snare suspects.
“Impairment of any kind while driving is illegal,” said CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley. “Alcohol, cannabis, or legal and illegal drugs can all affect your driving. Impaired driving is a serious crime that can lead to an arrest, serious injury or death.”
During the New Year’s maximum enforcement period that marked the end of 2017, the CHP arrested 936 DUI suspects statewide, compared with roughly 750 during the 2016 MEP.
Forty people died in collisions on roads under the CHP’s jurisdiction while the 2017 enforcement campaign was in effect, according to the agency.
The holiday weekend crackdown coincides with year-end anti-DUI campaigns involving the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and multiple municipal law enforcement agencies countywide.
Officers and deputies have been conducting saturation patrols and staffing sobriety checkpoints to catch intoxicated drivers. Operations will conclude Tuesday night.
