The first phase of a countywide crackdown on drunken and drug-impaired drivers netted nearly 150 arrests, it was announced today.
Riverside County Avoid the 30 task force -- named for the number of law enforcement agencies participating -- began conducting sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols on Friday as part of its annual end-of-year anti-DUI campaign, which wraps up Jan. 3.
Between Friday night and Monday night, 146 people were arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, according to Karen Haverkamp, Riverside police traffic bureau supervisor and Avoid coordinator.
During the same three-day period last year, 157 people were taken into custody.
“Tragically, there was a death attributed to a drunk driver on Friday evening in the city of Riverside,'' Haverkamp said.
During the 2009 Avoid campaign, three people died and 65 people were injured in drunken-driving-related crashes, according to Haverkamp.
She said sobriety checkpoints are planned in Blythe, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Murrieta, Riverside and Temecula.
Saturation patrols are scheduled in the same locations, as well as Banning, Beaumont, Canyon Lake, Coachella, Corona, Desert Hot Springs, Hemet, La Quinta, Lake Perris, Menifee, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Perris and San Jacinto.
