No fatalities, numerous holiday DUIs

While there were no road fatalities in the county through the recent holidays, law enforcement reported 30 arrests were made for driving under the influence.

The Tehama County Avoid the Five task force initiated a Winter Campaign DUI enforcement starting before Christmas that ended on Sunday. Some of the DUI arrests were made by the task force during area saturation patrols and sobriety check points, while others where made during regular patrol hours.

"We made it through the holidays without anyone being seriously injured or killed in Tehama County due to the actions of an impaired driver," said Redding police Officer Monty Hight, the Avoid the Five northern division public information officer. "We want to thank the public for their support."

Of the 30 people arrested for DUI, nine were women and 21 men, the youngest was a 16-year-old boy, who was one of two under-age drinkers arrested, according to Hight.

He said the oldest driver arrested in the county for DUI was a 62-year-old man, and 11 of the drivers were from Red Bluff, four from Gerber, one from Cottonwood, two from Redding, one from Los Molinos, and three from Corning, with the remainder from various locations in the nation.

Four of the DUI arrests were the result of traffic collisions.

Of the area law enforcement agencies involved in the task force, Corning police made three DUI arrests, sheriff's deputies three arrests, Red Bluff police nine arrests, and the California Highway Patrol made 15 DUI arrests during the holiday enforcement period.

This is the second year for the holiday enforcement period to be fatality-free in the county and compared to the 2008 DUI arrests of 37, this year's arrest numbers were down.

Statewide 1,388 DUI arrests were made, up from last year's number, but the CHP was pleased to announce the number of fatalities, at 26, where down from last year, according to a provisional report.

The local Avoid the Five task force anti-DUI effort will continue throughout 2010, with periodic saturation patrols, check points, warrant/probation searches, and other operations.

Statewide the "Avoid" program is the result of a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to crack down on the drinking drivers and reduce the number of deaths and injuries caused in the state by alcohol related crashes.