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More than 1,900 people have been arrested in the Bay Area for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs during a regional anti-DUI crackdown that started last month and ended last night.

Final figures had not been tabulated as of early this morning.

The regional Avoid campaign, which involves 125 Bay Area law enforcement agencies, had netted 1,960 arrests through 6 a.m. Saturday, according to officials.

The increased enforcement efforts began Dec. 18.

The arrest numbers are provisional, since a number of agencies have not yet reported their statistics.

Last year, the winter holiday Avoid campaign netted 3,261 arrests in the Bay Area.

There were five DUI-involved fatal collisions in the region during the 2008 enforcement period, while there have been two so far this year.

More drunken drivers were arrested by California Highway Patrol officers this New Year’s in the Bay Area than in 2009.

Officers arrested 226 drivers in the Bay Area for being under the influence between Thursday at 6 p.m. through today at 6 a.m. The number is up from the 2009 total of 173 during the same reporting period.

The CHP has reported one fatality in the Bay Area during their Maximum Enforcement Period. The holiday enforcement period ends today at midnight.

DUI arrests also have increased across California compared to last year. CHP officers have arrested 1,252 drunken drivers, up from 986 at this time in 2009.

Dan McMenamin, Bay City News contributed to this report.

Dan McMenamin, Bay City News contributed to this report.

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1 Comment

  1. I was forwarded this utube video which shows an pre holiday Australian ad campaign, hard hitting but spot on.

    This needs to passed around to every human being who has the keys to a vehicle and the capability of driving while under the influence with impaired judgement and the possibility of causing a life changing incident to happen to everyone he or she comes in contact with while in this condition.

    This is perhaps one of the most intense commercials that I’ve ever seen and damn well made. I hope that by passing this along to others, that it will make a difference and if just one life is saved, it will all be worth the effort to simply hit “send” and maybe save a life today or tomorrow or in the future.. I think that Australia should be complemented on having the guts to “tell it like it is” and get this campaign out to all of it’s licensed drivers and to air it on TV…it is very moving and very life like so it has a very strong impact this holiday season. Please pass it along to all of your friends and maybe you can be responsible for saving some lives. Wouldn’t that be a great Christmas Present.

    Check this ad out from Australia

    Please click on DUI

    DUI <http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Z2mf8DtWWd8&gt;

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