$139,000 Grant to Crack Down On Drunk Drivers in County

Avoid the 12, Santa Barbara County’s multi-jurisdictional crackdown on drunk drivers, has received a $139,000 one-year grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to continue its work during holiday campaigns through September of next year.

“The grant, which is administered by the county Sheriff’s Department, will cover enforcement done through sobriety/drivers license checkpoints, DUI saturation patrols, multi-agency DUI task forces deployments, court stings and warrant/probation operations,” stated Senior Dep. Jeff Farmer, Avoid the 12 coordinator.

“The Avoid campaigns have helped make our roadways safer, lowering drunk driving deaths by nearly 27 percent in the last five years in California,” said OTS Director Christopher J. Murphy. “Tragically, alcohol impaired deaths still account for 31 percent of all traffic fatalities. This grant will help make Santa Barbara County a safer place to live and work.”

Motorist can expect to see DUI campaigns during the winter and summer holiday periods as well as on Halloween, Super Bowl Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo and during local special events with identified DUI problems.

Campaigns like Avoid the 12 are active in 42 of California’s counties.