SAN MATEO COUNTY – The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office made nearly two dozen drunk-driving arrests during the 2019 holiday season, the law enforcement agency said Monday.
In a news release, the sheriff’s office said it partnered with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for the “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign and arrested 23 people between Dec. 11 and Jan. 3.
The sheriff’s office ramped up its usual enforcement efforts with a DUI checkpoint and increased patrols.
“We can’t stress this enough: Drunk driving is deadly, illegal behavior, and it puts the driver, his or her passengers, and other road users at terrible risk,” said Sheriff Carlos Bolanos in a statement. “The ‘Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over’ campaign helps our law enforcement officers better address this problem head on.”
In December 2018, 839 people were killed in traffic collisions involving a drunk driver, according to the NHTSA’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System. Nearly 34 percent, or 285, occurred during the Christmas and New Year’s Day holiday periods alone.
