10 fatalities, 271 DUI arrests on California roadways during CHP’s Christmas enforcement
Ten people were killed and 271 people were arrested for driving under the influence during the latest holiday crackdown on impaired driving, according to the California Highway Patrol.
That equated to a death on California highways every three hours, twice as high as the year before, on Christmas and Christmas Eve, an analysis by The Sacramento Bee showed. The numbers also indicated an average of 25 drivers arrested every two hours for allegedly getting behind the wheel drunk or high – a 20 percent decrease over averages a year earlier.
The figures are the product of a 30-hour maximum enforcement period conducted by CHP, which ended Wednesday. According to a news release, the CHP deploys all available officers during so-called MEPs for enhanced enforcement and to assist drivers in need of help.
“Our goal at the CHP is for everyone to get home safe. When a person chooses to drink and drive, it not only puts their safety at risk, but it endangers the life of everyone on the road with them,” said CHP Commissioner Warren Stanley. “We encourage the public to help us save lives and remove these dangerous drivers from the roadway by reporting them to 9-1-1.”
In 2018, data collected by the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System tallied 16 deaths and almost 350 injuries due to collisions involving drunk drivers during a 102-hour MEP, which culminated in 1,116 arrests for driving under the influence.
The 2019 MEP period was the shortest since 2015, according to past CHP statistics, but showed an uptick in fatalities and arrests compared to last month’s Thanksgiving enforcement. An average of 18 people were arrested every two hours during the Christmas period compared to almost 17 people every two hours during Thanksgiving.
Previous reporting by The Bee documented the results of the CHP’s 2019 Thanksgiving MEP, which lasted 102 hours and saw 42 roadway fatalities and more than 860 DUI arrests, with two deaths and 95 arrests occurring in the greater Sacramento area.
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 3:55 PM.