Labor Day Weekend Avoid Campaign

August 21 , 2007 - Santa Barbara County

Law-enforcement officers in Santa Barbara County will crack down hard on people who drink alcohol or take drugs before getting behind the wheel in celebrating the last weekend of the summer. The four-day Avoid the 12 enforcement campaign starts at the first minute of Friday, Aug. 31, and continues until midnight Monday, Sept. 3.

Avoid the 12, named for the dozen departments in Santa Barbara County, plans a saturation patrol for Saturday, Sept. 1, in Carpinteria. Sheriff's deputies and officers from police departments serving Santa Maria, Lompoc, Guadalupe, Santa Barbara, Allan Hancock College, UCSB, State Parks will participate.

CHP cruisers will flood the freeways all weekend as captains of the three area commands in the county assign nearly all their officers to road duty. Special DUI patrols are set, while all police supervisors will emphasize DUI enforcement with officers on regular beats.

“The public can be a big help to Avoid the 12,” said County Sheriff's Deputy Win Smith, campaign coordinator. He urges those who see what they think are impaired drivers to dial 911 on their cell phones, reporting the direction of travel and a description of the vehicle. “We'll go out after that driver,” he promised.

“Keep an eye out for drivers who are all over the road, drifting in their own lanes, signaling to turn left but turning right, driving more than 10 miles below the speed limit, speeding or hitting their brakes for no reason,” he advised. “Whether you're at the blood-alcohol limit of .08 or above it, you can count on being arrested when we stop you. No excuses, no exceptions.”

Smith also urges partygoers to designate a sober driver before they leave the house. “This person can drive everyone else home safely, avoiding arrest and all the financial pain that goes with it,” he said.

Avoid the 12 is part of a nationwide summer DUI prevention effort sponsored by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that focuses on combining high-visibility enforcement with heightened public awareness. The California Office of Traffic Safety funds Avoid the 12 through NHTSA. There are now 34 similar countywide crackdowns in the state.

Police hit the roads again for a 19-day crackdown starting Dec. 14.

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