CHP Gears up for Memorial Day Weekend Crackdown

By City News Service, Photo via Shutterstock

Don’t drink and drive, speed or text -- but keep your seatbelt on -- while driving in Riverside County or anywhere else, the California Highway Patrol reminded motorists today, ahead of its three-day Memorial Day weekend “maximum enforcement” campaign.

Between 6 p.m. Friday and 11:59 p.m. Monday, all available CHP officers will be cracking down on DUI offenders and other traffic violators.

Officers from the Beaumont, Indio, Riverside and Temecula CHP stations will patrol inland freeways, highways and unincorporated roads, looking to snare scofflaws.

During last year’s Memorial Day weekend maximum enforcement period -- or MEP -- the CHP made 1,256 DUI arrests statewide.

The MEP coincides with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Click It or Ticket” campaign, emphasizing seatbelt safety.

“Wearing a seat belt is the single most effective way to avoid being seriously injured or killed in a collision,” said CHP Commissioner Joe Farrow. “Wear your seat belt, travel at a safe speed, and use a designated driver if your weekend plans include alcohol. This important advice could save your life, or the life of someone you love behind the wheel.”

Of the 25 people who died in collisions on California roads during the 2014 Memorial Day weekend, seven were not wearing safety restraints of any kind, according to the CHP.