CHP’s Memorial Day Weekend crackdown underway

California Highway Patrol officers today will deploy for a Memorial Day weekend crackdown to nab drunk and drug-impaired drivers, while emphasizing the importance of staying buckled up on the road.

Beginning at 6 p.m., the CHP will initiate a statewide “maximum enforcement period,” during which all available officers hit the streets to catch DUI suspects and other traffic violators. The holiday weekend operation will conclude at 11:59 p.m. Monday.

Officers from the Beaumont, Blythe, Indio, Riverside and Temecula CHP stations will patrol inland freeways, highways and unincorporated roads during the crackdown, which this year will underscore seat belt safety as part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

“One of the simplest things a person can do to stay safe is to buckle up,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “Not only does the law require vehicle occupants to wear a seat belt, but it helps protect against injury or death.”

Of the 37 people killed in traffic accidents within CHP jurisdictions during the Memorial Day period in 2018, nearly half were not wearing any type of safety restraint, according to the agency.

Figures show that last year’s Memorial Day weekend MEP netted 1,060 DUI suspects statewide, representing a roughly 15 percent increase compared to the prior year’s effort.

The CHP campaign will coincide with sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols planned in a number of municipalities throughout Riverside County.

Beginning at 6 p.m., the CHP will initiate a statewide “maximum enforcement period,” during which all available officers hit the streets to catch DUI suspects and other traffic violators. The holiday weekend operation will conclude at 11:59 p.m. Monday.

Officers from the Beaumont, Blythe, Indio, Riverside and Temecula CHP stations will patrol inland freeways, highways and unincorporated roads during the crackdown, which this year will underscore seat belt safety as part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign.

“One of the simplest things a person can do to stay safe is to buckle up,” CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley said. “Not only does the law require vehicle occupants to wear a seat belt, but it helps protect against injury or death.”

Of the 37 people killed in traffic accidents within CHP jurisdictions during the Memorial Day period in 2018, nearly half were not wearing any type of safety restraint, according to the agency.

Figures show that last year’s Memorial Day weekend MEP netted 1,060 DUI suspects statewide, representing a roughly 15 percent increase compared to the prior year’s effort.

The CHP campaign will coincide with sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols planned in a number of municipalities throughout Riverside County.