DUI Checkpoint, Patrols Planned this Weekend

Marin’s “Avoid the 13 DUI Task Force” has several patrols planned throughout the county this Memorial Day holiday weekend and police officials are asking everyone to make plans to have designated drivers.

The crackdown on impaired drivers will begin on Friday, May 24, at 6 p.m., with a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint in Novato. The annual Novato checkpoint is held to honor 9-year-old Melody Osheroff, who was killed on May 27, 2009, when a drunk and speeding motorcyclist struck her and her father in a crosswalk at the intersection of San Marin Drive and San Carlos Drive.

Osheroff, a 9-year-old student at San Ramon Elementary School died the next day, and her memorial service was attended by hundreds.
Novato resident Edward Schaefer, who had at least eight other DUI convictions, was sentenced in July 2010 and was stabbed to death days after his arrival at San Quentin State Prison. The state of California subsequently passed a harsher law to get habitual drunken drivers off the roads and into rehabilitation.

This three-day weekend, there will also be roving DUI saturation patrols throughout the county. Also, the California Highway Patrol is “deploying all available officers” this weekend onto freeways and county roads for a “Maximum Enforcement Period,” according to San Rafael Police officials.

Law enforcement officials throughout the region are asking for everyone’s support this holiday weekend and all summer long:

• Plan ahead.  Arrange rides home for your friends, family, co-workers and yourself before the drinking
• Those hosting celebrations and servers must limit drinks to your guests or patrons.  Don’t serve more than one or two alcoholic beverages over several hours.
• Identify and provide free non-alcoholic drinks to the designated sober driver.
• Cut back on the amount of drinks you plan to bring to the party – and provide plenty of food.
• If you see dangerous driving, report drunk drivers by calling 911

Funding for the Avoid DUI Task Force is by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.