Max enforcement for holiday

By Rob Parsons and Susan Meeker

Tri-County Newspapers

Local law enforcement agencies are planning a safe holiday driving crack down both on the highways and city streets beginning tonight and lasting throughout the weekend.

The California Highway Patrol will begin their "maximum enforcement" period around 5 p.m. today and end around midnight Sunday, Officer Joe Stokes said.

"We'll be targeting DUIs, of course, but also seatbelts, car seats and cell phones, including texting," Stokes said Tuesday.

Extra patrols will be set up in Willows, police said, but not in Orland.

Orland Sgt. J.C. Tolle said no additional Orland units would be patrolling over the Thanksgiving holiday, but "saturation patrols" are planned for the Christmas holiday, including a DUI checkpoint. The date of the proposed checkpoint was not available Tuesday.

Tolle said additional patrols are set to begin Dec. 18 and will run through Jan. 3.

Willows police Chief Bill Spears said the his extra patrols are scheduled to begin Friday and run "every weekend through the New Year.

Thirty-three people were killed on California roadways during the Thanksgiving holiday last year. Among the 20 vehicle occupants killed in CHP jurisdiction, 35 percent were not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.

Last week, a Redding man was killed after the vehicle he was riding in rolled into an irrigation ditch along Intestate 5, north of Arbuckle.

Lawrence Gerard, 77, who was not wearing a seat belt, was pronounced dead at the scene, the CHP said. The driver, his stepson, and Gerard's wife, both wearing

seat belts, survived the crash with only minor injuries.

Thanksgiving is also an Operation CARE (Combined Accident Reduction Effort) holiday. Operation CARE is a joint program of the nation's highway patrols that places special safety emphasis on interstate highways during holiday periods. CARE highways in California include Interstates 80, 40, 15 and 5 (Bakersfield north to the Oregon line).

Stokes emphasized the importance of planning and safety.

"Get a designated driver well in advance," Stokes said. "We just want people to get safely from 'point A' to 'point B' and enjoy the holidays."

Contact Rob Parsons at 934-6800 or rparsons@tcnpress.com.