Crime & Safety

St. Paddy's Day Drunken Drivers Will Need More Than a Lucky Charm to Avoid a DUI

Throughout Santa Clara County, sheriff's deputies will conduct 'rolling DUI' checks on Thursday.

St. Patrick's Day revelers, be forewarned: The oh-so-familiar "Avoid the 13" DUI task force will be out on the roads with you Thursday. 

Describing its beefed-up rolling DUI patrols as "a counter-measure to all the 'green beer' on sale," the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Department said Monday it and its law enforcement partners will deploy additional patrols throughout the county.

“Driving impaired is simply not worth the risk," said Capt. Frank Damiano, division commander of the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office Headquarters Patrol Division. "Designate your sober driver before the party begins.” 

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Sheriff’s spokesman Sgt. Rick Sung agrees with Damiano on the importance of designating a driver before celebrating, and adds, “Make sure you pick your designated driver before you even take your first sip of martini, beer or wine.”

Because the St. Patrick's Day patrol campaign begins at 6 p.m. Thursday and ends at 5:59 a.m. Friday, that could make for an incarcerated weekend for drunken drivers.

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“For repeat offenders who get arrested Thursday night, they could actually spend the whole weekend in jail before they get to see a judge,” Sung said.

DUI is commonly understood to be driving under the influence of alcohol, but it applies to other controlled substances, too.

The Avoid the 13 DUI Task Force will deploy additional DUI patrols into various cities of Santa Clara County, including Cupertino, Mountain View, Saratoga, Los Altos Hills, San Jose, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale. "Avoid the 13" refers to the original 13 law enforcement agencies when the DUI campaigns were first launched several years ago.

St. Patrick’s Day, which started as Catholic holiday for Ireland's most commonly recognized saint, has been secularized over the years into a general celebration of Irish culture. The sheriff's office will disburse special grant money to pay for overtime patrols Thursday, because of the likelihood that the throngs socializing in bars Thursday will be at greater risk of driving impaired than the throngs attending church.

St. Patrick's Day patrols, which started in 2009, are a relatively new addition to the Avoid the 13 campaigns, Sung said. The state Office of Traffic Safety noticed that DUI-related deaths or injuries were higher on holidays such as St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo  and major events such as the Gilroy Garolic Festival and Mushroom Festival in Morgan Hill, said Michelle Sandoval, the sheriff's grant manager. 

The Avoid DUI Saturation patrols will supplement regularly scheduled shift deployments planned for Thursday. The specialized DUI officers will focus on areas with high incidents of DUI collisions and arrests.

Sung declined to identify areas in Cupertino that might be considered DUI hot spots and said the department is not required to keep statistics on St. Patrick’s Day arrests.

The sheriff's department and its partners recommended the following steps for a safe St. Patrick’s Day:

  • Plan a safe way home before the festivities begin. Before drinking, designate a sober driver, and leave your car keys at home.
  • If you’re impaired, use a taxi, call a sober friend or family member, or use public transportation so you are sure to get home safely.
  • If you happen to see a drunken driver on the road, don’t hesitate to call 911.
  • If you know someone who is about to drive while impaired, take their keys and help them make other arrangements to get to where they need to go safely.


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