Holiday DUIs Up By 20 Percent From 2010

A winter holiday crackdown resulted in more drunken driving arrests than during the same period last year, sheriff's officials said today.

In the past 11 days, deputies and officers from 14 law enforcement agencies in the county made 534 arrests of people suspected of driving drunk or under the influence of drugs, up 20 percent from the 444 arrests during the same period in 2010, according to sheriff's Lt. Jose Sanchez.

Two deaths attributed to drunken driving were also reported during the period from 12:01 a.m. Dec. 16 to midnight Monday, Sanchez said.

A suspected drunken driver lost control of a vehicle on Interstate 15, near Mira Mesa, and sustained fatal injuries, while another suspected drunken driver died in a crash on Interstate 5 near Sea World, Sanchez said.

The stepped-up crackdown on drunken driving will continue throughout New Year's weekend, Sanchez said.

-City News Service