Countywide Memorial Day Weekend Crackdown Planned

RIVERSIDE - Law enforcement agencies throughout Riverside County will be ramping up patrols to catch drunken drivers, speeders and other scofflaws during Memorial Day weekend, it was announced today.

The county's Avoid the 30 task force -- named for the number of area police agencies involved -- is planning saturation patrols and sobriety checkpoints beginning 6 p.m. Friday and wrapping up shortly after midnight Tuesday.

The effort will coincide with the California Highway Patrol's Memorial Day weekend ''Maximum Enforcement Period,'' during which all available officers are deployed to crack down on intoxicated motorists, distracted drivers and other traffic violators.

During the 2013 Memorial Day weekend Avoid campaign, 205 people were arrested on suspicion of drunken or drug-impaired driving in Riverside County, compared to 230 the year before.

Driver's license checkpoints and concentrated patrols are planned this weekend in Blythe, Coachella, Corona, Indian Wells, La Quinta, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley, Palm Springs, Perris, Riverside, San Jacinto and Temecula.

Authorities offered the following tips for residents planning to host get-togethers where alcohol will be served:

-- ensure guests who choose to imbibe have a designated driver or can arrange for ride-sharing;

-- serve plenty of food and non-alcoholic beverages;

-- limit drinks to one or two over several hours per person; and

-- take the keys away from an individual showing obvious signs of drunkenness and call them a cab if necessary.