Extra DUI patrols, checkpoint planned in Stanislaus for St. Pat’s Day

For St. Patrick’s Day on Thursday, the Avoid the 12 Stanislaus County DUI Task Force will deploy extra officers to target problem areas with high numbers of DUI collisions and arrests. Officers on the patrols, along with routine nightly patrols, will look for the telltale signs of impaired driving: weaving, crossing the center line, etc.

The task force also reminds drivers to keep an eye out for pedestrians who have had too much to drink.

The Modesto Police Department separately announced that it will have a DUI saturation patrol deployed between 5 p.m. and 1 a.m. Thursday and between 7:30 p.m. and 3:30 a.m. Friday in areas with high frequencies of DUI collisions and arrests.

Also Thursday, the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department will conduct a DUI checkpoint at an undisclosed location somewhere within the county.

The Avoid the 12 campaign advises revelers to designate sober, reliable drivers in advance to get them home safely, or to leave the keys at home, find the name of a taxi company or two, and keep the numbers in your phone. The Avoid the 12 DUI Task Force is named to send the message that if you don’t drink or use drugs and drive you will avoid getting arrested by any of the 12 participating law enforcement agencies in the county.

In a Facebook post early Wednesday, the department urged drivers who do not have a designated driver lined up to take advantage of the California Office of Traffic Safety’s Designated Driver VIP mobile app. It allows users to easily order a sober ride from Uber, Lyft or Curb – all from one screen. The app is free to download from iTunes and Google Play.

March 17 has become one of the nation’s deadliest holidays, according to an Avoid the 12 news release. From 2010 to 2014, almost three-fourths of drunken-driving fatalities during the holiday period involved drivers who had blood alcohol content well above the 0.08 percent legal limit. For St. Patrick’s Day over those five years, there were 266 drunken-driving fatalities nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

This story was originally published March 16, 2016 at 8:09 AM with the headline "Extra DUI patrols, checkpoint planned in Stanislaus for St. Pat’s Day."