Sonora PD Will Step Up Enforcement To Catch Drunk Drivers

Sonora, Ca — Beginning this Friday, and continuing through Labor Day, the Sonora Police Department will be stepping up enforcement to catch drivers under the influence.

Police Chief Mace McIntosh says it is part of a nationwide effort entitled, “Drunk Driving, Over the Limit, Under Arrest.”

The PD will be utilizing funds from a traffic safety grant to conduct sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols during this period. The money will also allow for extra patrol officers to be on the roadways.

According to the PD, drunk driving is one of America´s deadliest crimes. In 2006, nearly 13,000 people died in highway crashes involving a driver or motorcyclist with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher. The picture for motorcyclists is particularly bleak. Forty-one percent of the 1,878 motorcyclists who died in single-vehicle crashes in 2006 had a BAC of .08 or higher.

Written by BJ Hansen