This St. Patrick’s Day in order to try to decrease the amount of DUI accidents over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend the California Highway Patrol has announced the AVOID program. This according to the California Highway Patrol Commissioner is not designed to make arrests but to decrease the amount of accidents and save lives.
They are reminding people who plan to celebrate the holiday by drinking green beer that they should have someone in their group as a designated driver, take public transportation or make arrangements to stay the night where they plan to celebrate. This is in an effort to keep impaired drivers from getting behind the wheel and has included specifically the Bay Area.
During St. Patrick’s Day in California in 2007, the reports show that there were 16 fatalities and 304 people that were injured, these all involved DUI accidents.
In an effort to lower the amount of accidents from last year’s statistics there will be extra California Highway Patrol officers on the highways and freeways this year during the holiday weekend. While there are no reports of roadblocks these particular police officers will be watching for any erratic driving that may indicate a driver is under the influence. Speaking of dui news, it was reported that Barron Hilton, who happens to be the eighteen year old brother of Paris Hilton, has been charged by the local authorities with drunken driving in Los Angeles, California. The LA District Attorney has already filed some 4 misdemeanor charges against him, such as driving under the influence as well as the less serious charge of not having a valid state’s driver’s license. Meanwhile, in related California legal news, Tai Huynh, who is a police officer for the Huntington California Police Department and an 18-year veteran of the police department was honored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving as well as receiving a standing ovation from approximately 300 of the top law enforcement officials in the county.
This event took place at the Nixon Library for his DUI arrest record during 2007 where he is credited with arresting 467 impaired drivers. This could set a record in Orange County, as the record for the year prior was 325 DUI or DWI arrests.
This event where he was honored also included 14 other police officers, each is credited with over 100 arrests during 2007.
Reports say that officer Huynh said that he could tell the difference between a driver who has been drinking and a driver who maybe on a cell phone. The cell phone driver may weave somewhat once or twice because they are not giving full attention to the road, the impaired driver will continue driving in this manner.
This officer who was honored received a 60 second ovation from his superiors and fellow officers and in a statement from Sgt. Rob Warden he said of Huynh that the officer is always on the streets and works the whole city. While California has been noted for it’s DWI activity as of late, there are other bad parts of the country as well. Houston, Texas, for example, has been particularly beset by such problems. By the way, if you reside in Houston (or the surrounding area) and need a qualified Houston DWI Attorney
then by all means please take a look at the aforementioned Law Firm. They are truly some of the best working in the Houston area of Texas.