For the third year in a row, DUI deaths declined in California. The drop was 9.1 percent, from 1,132 in 2007 to 1,029 in 2008, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. The 2008 figure marks a total decrease of nearly 21 percent from the most recent high point in 2005.
“With this third year of declines in DUI deaths, we can truly call it a trend, a trend of life saving importance,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). “Law enforcement, state and local agencies, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and other safety advocates, and the people of California have come together to address this deadly problem and are now seeing the results. As positive as these figures are, though, we can never let up until we achieve our goal of zero deaths.”
“This significant decline in traffic deaths is indeed heartening,” said California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow. “The decrease in lives pointlessly lost can be traced back to hard, innovative work in education, enforcement, engineering and emergency medical services. Our primary objective remains to continue this trend and have more people make it home safe and alive each day.”
When accused of California DUI always contact a California DUI Lawyer.
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For the second Memorial Day weekend in a row, drunken-driving arrests in Monterey County more than doubled, officials said Tuesday.
During the Avoid The 18 crackdown, police officers, sheriff’s deputies and California Highway Patrol officers arrested 49 motorists on suspicion of driving under the influence, up from last year’s 21. In 2007, officers made 10 DUI arrests over the holiday weekend.
The enforcement sweep, which included a DUI checkpoint in Salinas and increased patrols around the county, started Friday and ended Monday night.
Lynn says additional state grant money from the California Office of Traffic Safety allowed law enforcement agencies to increase patrol hours, and thus boost arrest numbers.
“With more units out there, we’re able to catch more,” he said.
More California Memorial Day DUI Arrests
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Arrest information is from the Napa County Sheriff’s Department. Convictions, names and blood-alcohol levels are from Napa County Superior Court.
Convictions include cases in which the person pleaded guilty or no contest to one or more drunk driving charges, or where one or more such charges resulted in a guilty verdict at trial.
Vehicle code violations considered are: driving under the influence (Vehicle Code section 23152), reckless driving while under the influence (23103.5) and causing injury to another while driving while under the influence (23153).
The blood-alcohol levels provided by the court are based on a variety of tests — some taken at the scene of the arrest or county jail, others through a later blood test — and have not necessarily been proven or admitted in court. It is unlawful for any person to operate a vehicle if that person has a blood-alcohol level of .08 or more, according to the California Vehicle Code.
Napa Valley December 2008 DUI Arrest Statistics:
Arrests: 68
Convictions/pleas: 63
Reported blood-alcohol below .10 or unavailable: 18
Reported blood-alcohol between .10 and .19: 32
Reported blood-alcohol between .20 and .29: 12
Reported blood-alcohol between .30 and .39: 1
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The blood-alcohol levels provided by the court are based on a variety of tests — some taken at the scene of the arrest or county jail, others through a later blood test — and have not necessarily been proven or admitted in court. It is unlawful for any person to operate a vehicle if that person has a blood-alcohol level of .08 or more, according to the California Vehicle Code.
Names listed below are for those convicted in November 2008.
Convictions/pleas: 60
Reported blood-alcohol below .10 or unavailable: 10
Reported blood-alcohol between .10 and .19: 37
Reported blood-alcohol between .20 and .29: 13