San Diego California DUI lawyers report that drunk drivers will be targeted by specialized patrols and at checkpoints across Riverside County through Labor Day as part of a holiday crackdown.

The California Highway Patrol's maximum enforcement period, during which about 80 percent of officers will be on duty, began at Friday at 6 p.m. and wraps up at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, according to Riverside-area CHP Sgt. David Lane.

“We'll be looking for impaired drivers and drivers responsible for primary collision factors – speeding, unsafe lane changes, things that cause collisions and injury,” Lane said. “Our goal is to reduce the loss of life as well as property damage. We do that by enforcing all violations. But we're targeting those PCFs.”
He said 43 DUI arrests were made by CHP officers in the western half of the county over Labor Day weekend last year.

Karen Haverkamp, traffic bureau supervisor for the Riverside Police Department, said the CHP's maximum enforcement effort coincides this year with a two-week countywide law enforcement campaign to catch alcohol- or drug-impaired drivers.

The “Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest” campaign began Aug. 15 and concludes Monday. Haverkamp said that as of Wednesday, saturation patrols and DUI checkpoints in the county had snared 230 suspected drunken drivers.

Five sobriety checkpoints and 11 coordinated saturation patrols are planned by law enforcement agencies countywide, Haverkamp said.

The anti-DUI operations are funded in part by a $700,000 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration grant, according to Haverkamp.

The NHTSA is funding similar operations nationwide.

Haverkamp said Riverside County's 30 municipal, county and state law enforcement agencies are taking part in the campaign. The agencies' combined efforts are called “Avoid the 30.”

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