DA's Office Gets Grant To Combat Drunk Driving

On the heels of a successful holiday anti-DUI campaign that netted a few hundred arrests, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office announced a grant that will give it even more tools to prevent deaths and injuries due to impaired drivers.

The $161,160 grant, awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), will aid in the County’s ongoing effort to improve traffic safety and the quality of life, according to officials.

The grant will be used to acquire new, state-of-the-art breath alcohol instruments that will be administered by the Santa Clara County DA’s Crime Laboratory, and operated by local law enforcement. The new instruments will replace current aging instruments located at ten field sites around the county. 

In addition, three additional sites will be added, thereby enabling the county to expand coverage, and improve the testing process with the latest technology.  

“These new breath alcohol instruments, along with the additional field sites, will enable law enforcement to reduce the number of drunk drivers on the road, and increase everyone’s safety,” said District Attorney Jeff Rosen in a statement.

In 2009, drunk driving claimed the lives of 950 people throughout California in roadway crashes that involved a driver or motorcycle operator with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 percent or higher. 

“Thanks to the dedicated hard work of law enforcement agencies, California has seen a drop of nearly 27 percent in DUI fatalities,” said OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy. “While this is good news, we know that only by keeping the pressure on through enforcement and public awareness can we hope to sustain these declines and save lives.”

Funding for the program is from the OTS through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.