AVOID THE 12 PLANS EXTRA PATROLS - CINCO DE MAYO - MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY- April 28th, 2009

Avoid the 12, Santa Barbara County’s multi-jurisdictional law enforcement crackdown on impaired drivers, plans saturation patrols in the Guadalupe and Orcutt region for Cinco de Mayo.

“We focus our enforcement on holidays that many people like to celebrate with alcohol,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Win Smith, campaign coordinator. “We just finished up St. Patrick’s Day and will head into the Memorial Day weekend at the end of May.”

Smith and city police officers from Santa Maria, Lompoc, Guadalupe along with officers from the Allan HancockCollege police and California State Parks will staff the saturation patrols from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Tuesday, May 5.

The team will hold a briefing at the Guadalupe Police Dept. and will book prisoners into the Sheriff’s Dept. jail in Santa Maria, Smith remarked.

The California Office of Traffic Safety funds Avoid the 12 through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Christopher J. Murphy, OTS director, reports that in 2008 the state registered the lowest number of traffic fatalities in 33 years. Last year’s rates are 12 percent below 2007 numbers. He credited the success to the state’s recent focus on reducing drunken driving and the ever-increasing number of Californians who buckle their seat belts, now more than 90 percent.