Super Bowl: Police will be cracking down on drunk driving

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Southern California police departments will be conducting roving DUI patrols and setting up sobriety checkpoints on Super Bowl Sunday.

The Los Angeles Police Department plans five checkpoints, while the Glendale police announced extra patrols.

According to the Times’ Highway 1 blog, the rate of alcohol-related car crashes in California on Super Bowl Sunday is 75% higher than on other comparable Sundays in January and February. The data were from a 10-year analysis of fatal and injury crashes from 2002 to 2011 by the Automobile Club of Southern California.

The LAPD said that on Saturday it would set up a sobriety checkpoint on Hyperion Avenue at Scotland Street from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m.

On Sunday, the LAPD has DUI Saturation Patrols planned for the Newton and Central areas from 2 to 10 p.m.; in the Topanga area from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; in the 77th Street area from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; and in the Hollywood area from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Glendale police issued the following suggestions:

If you’re attending a Super Bowl party:

• Designate your sober driver before the party begins.
• If you don’t have a designated driver, ask a sober friend for a ride home; call a cab, friend, or family member to come and get you; or if possible stay where you are for the night and don’t drive until you are sober.
• Use your community’s sober ride or enter www.ruok2drive.com into your smartphone’s browser for the OTS Cab Finder.

If you’re hosting a Super Bowl party:

• Serve plenty of food and non-alcoholic beverages at the party.
• Remember, you can be held liable and prosecuted if someone you served ends up in a drunk-driving crash.
• Likewise, parents or other adults who provide alcohol to, or host a party where alcohol is available to, those under age 21 could face jail time.

--Jason Wells and Shelby Grad