More than 1,000 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes in the United States December of 2021.
And the Manteca Police Department is going to do its part to make sure that nobody from within its jurisdiction is counted on those totals for this year – blanketing the street with officers looking for people driving under the influence and potentially even conducting a sobriety checkpoint to educate drivers about the dangers of driving impaired.
From now until the earliest hours of next year the agency will have additional officers on patrol at strategic times looking for drivers showing signs of impairment. As part of a program from the California Office of Traffic Safety funded by a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agency will use grant funding to cover the overtime cost of officers out patrolling the streets to keep the residents of Manteca safe.
“Impaired driving isn’t just dangerous – it’s illegal,” Manteca traffic officer Jose Plascencia said in a release about the effort. “Let’s make this a joyful and safe holiday season for everyone on the road.
“This enforcement period allows us to get the message out that it’s essential to act responsibly and plan a sober ride home.”
While sobriety checkpoints occasionally snare drivers who think that they can evade detection by trained officers manning the location, saturation patrols – where additional officers, many of whom have received additional training specific to DUI stops and arrests, blanket the street looking for drivers showing signs of impairment – have proven to be far more successful at catching those that put the lives of other drivers on the road at risk.
Traditionally the educational campaigns conducted by law enforcement have focused on “drunk driving” but has since been amended to include anything that could render somebody unable to safely operate a vehicle on public roadways – including cannabis consumption, prescription narcotics or other medications that cause drowsiness, and even some over-the-counter medications
Known as “Drive Sober, or Get Pulled Over,” the educational campaign is part of a nationwide effort to curtail the number of preventable deaths on roadways during the period of time when alcohol consumption hits its highest point.
According to studies, alcohol consumption tends to ramp up as the cold-weather holidays approach beginning with the night before Thanksgiving and continuing on through the December month with Christmas and New Year’s Eve/Day – where the odds of causing a fatal accident is more than 100 percent higher relative to the seasonal trend of alcohol consumption and the week in which the holiday falls.
Law enforcement officials encourage people to make arrangements ahead of time if they know that they’re going to be consuming alcohol or anything other intoxicant to the point of intoxication – either scheduling a ride home from a sober friend, or using a ride-sharing app like Uber or Lyft.
To contact Bulletin reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com.
