The Fourth of July is coming up this weekend (btw, did you take our July 4 poll?) and as such, San Francisco is getting ready to party. Law enforcement, on the other hand, is planning a four-day event to crackdown on drunk driving. According to a press release sent out by the SFPD to media, as part of a statewide effort, extra enforcement will begin at the strike of midnight on Thursday night and end at midnight on Monday, July 5th.
In San Francisco, “Avoid the 8” (the “8” refers to the number of law enforcement agencies in San Francisco), the multi-jurisdictional anti-drunk driving program, will have a sobriety checkpoint on Saturday, July 3rd. The location of the checkpoint will be released two hours before it begins.
According to Capt. Paul Fontana of the San Francisco squad, every available Highway Patrol officer will be on the freeways looking for reckless driving.
Sgt. Neil Swendsen of the SFPD’s Traffic Company urges people to be smart about who they get in a car with. “Don’t believe anyone who’s been drinking when they tell you they are fine to drive. Get out, call a cab, hop on a bus, trolley or cable car or arrange a ride with a stone-cold sober person.”
Avoid campaigns are the largest funded DUI crackdowns in the United States, according to NHTSA. The California Office of Traffic Safety funds all 41 countywide cooperative campaigns in the state through the National Traffic Safety Administration. They cover 98 percent of California’s population and involve 540 law enforcement agencies.
When Labor Day rolls around, Avoid the 8 will be back on the roads for an 18-day DUI enforcement mobilization from August 20th to September 6th.
