County Law Enforcement Group Wraps Up End-of-Summer DUI Crackdown

The Avoid the 14-Ventura County law enforcement organization has completed its end-of summer DUI crackdown. Folling is a statement issued by Avoid the 14 Tuesday:

Arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs were down by 17 percent in Ventura County as Avoid the 14 ended an 18-day summer DUI mobilization at midnight Monday night.

This year’s DUI arrest total is 249, compared with 300 last year.

Top departments for DUI arrests were the California Highway Patrol’s Moorpark and Ventura squads with 155, Oxnard police with 26, Camarillo police with 16 and Simi Valley and Thousand Oaks with a dozen each. Other law-enforcement agencies in the county made up the remainder.

“Our best news is that we had no DUI-related deaths during the entire crackdown,” said Oxnard police traffic Sgt. Randy Latimer. “We had two deaths last year.”

“We spoke with a great many designated drivers and perfectly sober drivers over this crackdown. We congratulate the people of our county in making the wise decision to designate a sober driver or to always drive sober themselves,” he said.

The next long campaign for Avoid the 14 will be the 18-day winter mobilization, which starts in mid-December and covers through the new year.

The California Office of Traffic Safety funds Avoid the 14 and 40 similar countywide crackdowns in the state through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.