DUI Attorneys

Bay Area law enforcement agencies reported Monday that DUI arrests for the 2005 Memorial Day weekend were significantly higher than arrests for the same period last year.

For the first three days of the four-day holiday period, 415 DUI arrests had been made in the nine Bay Area counties, with two deaths reported. The number of crash injuries was not available by Monday afternoon.

Last year, 351 arrests, three deaths and 85 injuries were recorded for the same period.

“We had more arrests because we had more officers out on the streets and highways doing checks,” said California Highway Patrol Officer Mike Wright.

The highway patrol reported that 125 municipal police departments joined the agency in its DUI enforcement campaign this year.

“Each year we’ve been able to throw more and more resources at the problem, so we’re getting more and more arrests,” Wright said. “Bigger is better. We have more people looking for drunks, so we’re catching more drunks.”

Wright said it did not appear that the number of intoxicated drivers on the highway is decreasing.

“We’d love to see less drinking, but that doesn’t appear to be happening, ” he said.

But the crash statistics indicate the annual trend for the Bay Area, at least, is heartening.

“In the last two years, the number of alcohol-involved crashes have declined for the Bay Area – from 8,706 in 2003 to 8,302 in 2004,” said Sgt. Wayne Ziese, another highway patrol spokesman.

Ziese attributed the decline to regional holiday DUI enforcement efforts, which are funded with federal money disbursed through the California Office of Traffic Safety.

Over the four-day Memorial Day holiday, Ziese said, 3,000 Bay Area officers manned 15 sobriety checkpoints and formed 55 “strike team” patrols.

“We have the largest regional DUI program in the country, and it’s really making a difference,” he said. “Alcohol-related crashes are going down in the Bay Area, but they’re going up both statewide and nationwide.”

Ziese said the strike teams saturated problem areas, pulling over suspected drunk drivers.

“If you were in an area where you saw lots of black-and-whites, you knew you were in an area of concern,” he said.

Ziese said law enforcement officers also made a special effort to crack down on vehicular “sideshows” – rowdy street-side gatherings featuring car stunts.

“Sunday night, we had 100 extra officers working Oakland, where there are usually lots of weekend sideshows,” Ziese said. “They got a few drunks, but their sideshow calls were way below normal. The extra officer presence really had a pronounced effect.”

Every holiday weekend seems to bring alcohol-related crashes that are particularly horrendous, and the 2005 Memorial Day holiday was no exception.

One of the Bay Area’s worst occurred Monday at 12:53 a.m. in San Jose, Wright said.

“A Honda Civic driven by 18-year-old Matthew L. Baptista was southbound on Highway 85 when it hit a guardrail,” Wright said. “A teenage girl was ejected from the car.”

The girl was taken to Santa Clara Medical Center, where she remains in critical condition, Wright said.

“It’s a terrible tragedy,” Wright said. “Mr. Baptista has been charged with felony drunk driving.”