The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department will conduct extra traffic patrols over the long Memorial Day weekend, the agency announced Friday.
That adds to beefed up traffic enforcement in the region over the holiday, as the California Highway Patrol also announced its annual “maximum enforcement period” for the unofficial start-of-summer holiday.
That period began at 6 p.m. Friday and continues through 11:59 p.m. Monday, the CHP advised this week.
The Sheriff’s department issued a simple warning: “If you are caught driving impaired, you will go to jail.”
“Driving under the influence doesn’t just mean alcohol,” the agency pointed out in a public statement. “It also means driving under the influence of prescription drugs or marijuana.”
The “primary focus” for the CHP, said Commissioner Sean Duryee, “will be to enhance public safety, deter unsafe driving behavior and, when necessary, take appropriate enforcement action.”
So far in 2023, more than 2,500 drivers have been arrested for impaired driving in San Diego County, according to the Sheriff’s Department. Deputies made nearly 400 of those arrests.
– City News Service