571 Arrested for Drunk Driving in L.A. Over St. Patrick’s Day

The St. Patrick’s Day DUI Mobilization crackdown on drunk drivers resulted in a significant number of DUI arrests from the sobriety checkpoints, special saturation patrols and routine patrols in Los Angeles County over the weekend. From 12:01 a.m. Friday, March 14, through midnight Monday, officers representing 100 county law enforcement agencies arrested 571 individuals for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. (Note: These results are preliminary with some agencies yet to report.) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationreports that two of five people killed nationwide in crashes involved a drunk driver during St. Patrick’s Day between 2006 and 2010. NHTSA analyses show alcohol-impaired crashes claimed a life every 53 minutes in 2011. Use this calculator to estimate just how little alcohol it takes to put you on the wrong side of the law. Law enforcement officials will be conducting more “Avoid the 100” DUI operations during Cinco de Mayo, the Memorial Day weekend holiday and July Fourth. Police, sheriff and CHP officials encourage motorists to help law enforcement every day: Report drunk drivers by calling 911 anytime you encounter an impaired driver. DUI checkpoints, along with regularly scheduled high visibility DUI enforcement operations, are proven strategies for removing impaired drivers from the road and heightening awareness of the dangers of driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, sobriety checkpoint programs can yield cost savings of $6 for every $1 spent. Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.