As New Year’s Day approaches, the California Highway Patrol will be in their maximum enforcement period actively on the lookout for those who are under the influence or distracted while driving the roads.
While the CHP did not experience any deadly crashes in San Luis Obispo during last year’s maximum enforcement period for the New Year holiday, they did make dozens of drunk driving arrests.
“Last year, coastal division wide, which is just a section of California, we arrested 53 DUI drivers. For the San Luis Obispo area, we arrested six last year,” said Captain Greg Klingenberg, San Luis Obispo CHP.
During CHP’s enforcement period this past Christmas holiday, they made more than 900 arrests statewide for driving under the influence, an average of one every five minutes. For the upcoming holiday, some community members are choosing to stay home.
“So as I usually do, I don’t want to drive with all the crazy people out so we just hang out at home and maybe come down to the beach for a picnic,” said John Biven, Los Osos resident.
Other locals will be out of town for the new year but relying on rideshare services.
“Well, definitely I will be Ubering. My friend lives in Northridge so we’ll probably end up somewhere in downtown LA,” said Kaala Wood, San Luis Obispo resident.
“If you’re going to go out and drink, there’s more than ample opportunity to get a ride home, to Uber, public transportation, friends, designated driver. There’s more than ample opportunity to get home without driving,” Captain Klingenberg said.
If you see or suspect an impaired driver, CHP urges you to call 911 immediately and be prepared to provide the dispatcher a description of the car, the license plate number, the location, and direction of where they are headed.
“You can help us out as well in getting a DUI driver off of the road over the holiday weekend,” Captain Klingenberg said.
The maximum enforcement period starts Friday at 6 p.m. and runs through Monday at midnight.
