Anti-DUI Bill Being Introduced
An anti-DUI bill was introduced recently by Senator Bill Dodd, who represents California’s 3rd Senate District including Solano County. If passed, the bill would double the amount of funding that is available to the California Highway Patrol (CHP)’s Designated Driver Program.
Senate Bill 973 is scheduled to be heard by a committee sometime in the month of March 2018.
The Bill
The bill would provide around 910,000 dollars to the education and outreach program as well as to increased enforcement in what is marked as high target areas. The increase in funding would come from an additional 5 dollar tax on the ~ 91,000 alcohol licenses currently issued statewide. This would raise the current alcohol license assessment to 10 dollars annually for sellers of liquor.
Why?
Senator Dodd remarked in a statement issued by his office that drunken driving and accidents related to it cause too many injuries and deaths across the state. Dodd’s office indicated that giving additional funding to California’s program for designated drivers would be a way for legislators to help prevent DUI and, ultimately, help save lives in California.
Dodd remarked in his press released that “we (Californians) need to continue advancing policies that keep impaired individuals (DUI drivers) from getting behind the wheel.”
DUI Stats
According to a statement from the Attorney General of California’s Office, California officers made a total of 125,501 DUI arrests during the year 2016. Additionally, CHP reported a total of 35,212 DUI-involved collisions and 13,979 consequent injuries for the same year. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also reports that they recorded 1,059 DUI-involved accident fatalities in California during 2016.
DUI In Fairfield
DUI collisions in Fairfield, as with anywhere, are dangerous and the numbers prove it. Data taken from research conducted by UC Berkeley indicates that, while only about 1 percent of accidents that occur in Fairfield involve fatal injuries, Fairfield accidents that involve DUI are fatal nearly 5 percent of the time. This shows that drinking and driving in Fairfield increases the risk of fatality by a factor of 5 in the event of an accident.
Additionally, accidents involving DUI in Fairfield are around 4 times more likely to result in severe injuries than non-DUI accidents.
Common Fairfield DUI Locations
A few areas that have been the site of numerous DUI accidents in Fairfield over the last ten years are:
- The I-80/680 junction
- East Tabor Avenue at North Texas Street
- Air Base Parkway at Clay Bank Road
- West Texas Street at Pennsylvania Avenue
- The Highway 12/Pennsylvania Avenue Junction
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