New Year’s Weekend Crackdown
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – This holiday weekend, the California Highway Patrol will conduct its last crackdown of 2023 targeting drunken and drug-impaired motorists in Riverside County and statewide.
The CHP will initiate its New Year’s “maximum enforcement period” at 6 p.m. Friday, when all available officers will deploy to catch impaired motorists, speeders and other traffic violators. The campaign will continue until late Monday night.
Officers from the Riverside, Blythe, Indio, San Gorgonio Pass and Temecula CHP stations will be on Inland Empire freeways, highways and unincorporated roads, looking to snare suspects.
“Our personnel work through the Holidays to help ensure people arrive safely at their destinations,” CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee said. “The goal is to maintain a safe environment on California’s roads, which is achievable when all motorists make responsible decisions behind the wheel.”
The 2022-23 New Year’s MEP netted 570 arrests statewide, compared to 495 arrests during the 2021-22 campaign, according to the CHP.
This weekend’s crackdown will coincide with year-end anti-DUI campaigns involving the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and multiple municipal law enforcement agencies countywide.
In similar enforcement this past week, several people were arrested at DUI checkpoints in
Riverside County, authorities disclosed.
A San Jacinto checkpoint was conducted at an undisclosed location, where three people were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, two were arrested for allegedly driving with a suspended license and six vehicles were stored or impounded.
A Norco checkpoint was conducted in the 2400 block of Hamner Avenue, where 555 vehicles were screened, two people were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol and five vehicles were towed.
The sheriff’s department reminded the public that impaired driving is not just from alcohol; some prescription medications or over-the-counter drugs may interfere with driving. The department advised the public to always follow directions for use and read warning labels about driving or operating heavy
machinery.
While medicinal and recreational marijuana are legal, driving under the influence of marijuana is illegal.
Drivers charged with DUI can face an average of $13,500 in fines and penalties, as well as a suspended license.
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