It's beginning to look a lot like a DUI enforcement weekend, as roving patrols and at least two sobriety checkpoints are scheduled.
Meanwhile, Irvine police are warning drivers to be extra cautious around the weekend Persian New Year celebrations at Mason Park.
But, before we get to the mean streets, your completely sober reporter has
been negligent in bringing you, as promised, results of the last round
of DUI checkpoints Saturday night, March 26.
]
Costa Mesa reports 2,294 vehicles
came through its checkpoint at Newport Boulevard and 17th Street and that 675
were screened, 8
drivers were given field sobriety tests, 6 DUI
suspects were arrested, 17
drivers were investigated for license irregularities, 13
citations were issued, and 10 vehicles
were towed.
Santa Ana's checkpoint at 3500 W. 5th St. was slower, with 321 drivers screened, 5 drivers arrested for alleged DUI, 7 field sobriety tests conducted, 7 vehicles impounded, and 6 citations written.
Okay, on to this weekend: the Orange County Sheriff's Department “Avoid the 12” DUI Task Force conducts roving patrols in areas of Aliso Viejo, Laguna Hills, Laguna Niguel and Laguna Woods “that have a high incidence of DUI-related arrests and collisions.”
Garden Grove police hold a DUI/Drivers
License checkpoint from 9 tonight to 3 a.m. Saturday at 12100 Harbor Blvd.
Westminster police's Traffic Bureau conducts its own from 8 p.m. Saturday to 2 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Beach Boulevard and McFadden Avenue.
These operations are funded by grants from the California Office of Traffic
Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Sizdeh Bedar,” the Persian New Year, historically attracts thousands of people
and severe traffic congestion to roadways
surrounding William R. Mason Regional Park, 18712 University Drive, Irvine. Police suspect more of the same this Sunday as well as Easter Sunday and advise drivers to plan alternate routes in the area from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Irvine is singling out the following roadways:
- University Drive between the I-405 freeway and MacArthur Boulevard;
- Culver Drive between Campus Drive and the I-405 freeway;
- Harvard Avenue between Culver Drive and Michelson Drive.
Police warn they will have a heavier than usual presence in the area during the peak hours and will be strictly enforcing traffic laws as well as posted no parking and tow away zones.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.