DUI arrests up, but no fatalities this holiday weekend

SAN DIEGO (CNS) – Arrests for drunken driving during Memorial Day weekend are up from last year in San Diego County, but fatality figures are down, the California Highway Patrol announced Monday.

Highway patrol officers made 75 drunken driving arrests between 6:01 p.m., Friday and 6 a.m. Monday, according to CHP Officer Jesse Udovich, seven more than this time last year. No one has been killed as a result of drunken driving this weekend, compared to two fatalities reported this time last year.

Sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols were conducted throughout the county to curb drunken driving this holiday weekend.

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department said today two people were arrested on suspicion of drunken driving overnight at a checkpoint in Lemon Grove. One person was arrested on a warrant, one for public intoxication and 10 drivers were arrested for driving with a suspended or revoked license.

More than 1,100 vehicles passed though the checkpoint, held in the 7000 block of Broadway. Volunteers from Mothers Against Drunk Driving provided information to drivers at the stop.

“This was considered a successful operation, both in the number of impaired drivers and dangerous drivers removed from the street, and also in the amount of public awareness generated,” said Sheriff's Sgt. Herb Taft.

Highway patrol officers statewide made 1,223 arrests this weekend, compared with 1,406, last year, Udovich said. Thirteen people statewide have been killed as a result of drunken driving compared to 12 in 2010.