Unfortunately, some find themselves eye-to-eye with the law as they are charged with DUI.

Every region has their own collective of individuals who become part of this year’s statistics, and each in their own right is stunning in their toll.

For California’s Bay Area, this Labor Day weekend resulted in over 370 DUI arrests as the extended weekend began to close down, and it’s likely once the final statistics come in the number will increase. As for now, local law enforcement is proud to say they have rid the public’s travel ways of 370 potential disasters.

According to the story posted by San Francisco’s KTVU, “The weekend crackdown has led to the arrest of at least 371 individuals on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, compared to 377 arrests during the same time period last year, according to the California Office of Traffic Safety.”

As well, and a point worth mentioning is that the same report stated that there were no deaths in the Bay Area accredited to drunk driving so far this weekend. This compares to the two alcohol-related deaths during the same period in 2008.

The two-week long national campaign, running from August 15 to September 1, was the newest effort to get intoxicated drivers off the road over the Labor Day weekend.

Citations were issued for speeding, seat belt violation, child restraint violation as well as DUI offense.

During the two weeks, police wrote 1,444 tickets for speeding, 272 seat belt citations and warnings, 79 child restraint citations and warnings and 53 driving under suspension arrests.  Records show there were three fatalities over Labor Day weekend in Nebraska.

The MADD volunteers will add to the high visibility enforcement many counties across the nation will be implementing. Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube announced that there would also be DUI checkpoints and saturation patrols on the road this weekend.

The volunteer teams will be in unmarked, private vehicles and using their personal cell phones to communicate with police. When people see drivers that are demonstrating signs of impairment, they will contact the sheriff’s department to respond to the situation.

The pilot program will be assessed after operating for six months to look at data collected about response times, percentage of arrests, number of observations and more.

Read more about this program in the following article:

MADD Volunteers to Deputize Themselves

Many festival organizers arrange for safe rides in conjunction with their events, and San Diego has a permanent Designated Drivers Association that provides a driver to take people who have had too much to drink home in their own vehicles so that they won’t get behind the wheel.

Avoid a DUI charge (or worse) by arranging for safe transportation this holiday weekend.

The Summit County, Ohio DUI Task Force plans to conduct daily DUI checkpoints “around Labor Day” as part of the “Drunk Driving: Over the Limit, Under Arrest” initiative.

The Florida Highway Patrols “no tolerance” campaign began on Friday, with four DUI arrests, and will include a combination of saturation patrols and roadblocks through September 6.

A “regional crackdown” dubbed “Operation Night Hawk” involves law enforcement agencies in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia, and will include sobriety checkpoints and underage drinking sting operations.

In Wilmington, Del. alone, the drunk driving task force charged 29 drivers Friday night and early Saturday morning.

Salt Lake County, Utah police agencies made 25 DUI arrests on Friday night, while a joint Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania State Police task force credited a successful checkpoint with 20 DUI arrests.

In Tempe, Ariz., 70 to 80 additional police officers will be on duty this weekend.
These reports encompass only a small fraction of the DUI crackdown operations, checkpoints, saturation patrols and other enforcement activities in effect from now through September 6.