It’s a weekend of anti-DUI enforcement as special patrols aimed at boozy and druggy drivers hit the streets of Lake Forest and Mission Viejo tonight, while a checkpoint will be set up along a stretch of Santa Ana Saturday night.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department DUI Enforcement Team deploys “saturation patrols,” where specially assigned deputies blanket streets known for drunken driving arrests, accidents and fatalities, from 7 tonight through 3 a.m. Saturday in Lake Forest and Mission Viejo.
Those who plan to hop around those towns and imbibe are advised to use designated drivers, taxis or ride-sharing services.
The same can he said for those passing through the area of 3500 W. 5th St., Santa Ana, between 9:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 a.m. Sunday. That’s when police will have a DUI checkpoint up to deter impaired driving.
Besides ensuring that motorists are not under the influence, police will be checking for proper licensing.
Speaking of under the influence, law enforcement warns that even those affected by medications prescribed to them by a doctor can be arrested for DUI.
The sheriff’s and Santa Ana police departments receive funding for anti-DUI ops from separate California Office of Traffic Safety grants, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
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.