Dennis RomeroRegardless of which team wins Super Bowl XLIX, you'll be a huge loser if you get behind the wheel after downing a 12-pack at your best bro's house.
The California Highway Patrol says, “Game day carries a 77 percent increased risk of alcohol-linked fatal and injury crashes.” The Auto Club of Southern California says a recent five-year span in L.A. County saw an average of 77 fatal and injury crashes on Super Bowl Sundays compared with 49 other Sundays.
The Los Angeles Police Department and other agencies are sending out the troops for Super Bowl weekend. The idea is not only to arrest suspected drunk drivers but also to dissuade inebriates from motoring at all.
According to an LAPD statement:
… The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), California Highway Patrol and law enforcement agencies throughout California are urging football fans to choose sides now: drinking or driving. If you plan on drinking on Super Bowl Sunday, designate a sober driver to get you home safely.
Here's where the action will be taking place:
-Tonight from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. there will be an LAPD DUI checkpoint on Lankershim Boulevard at Vanowen Street in bucolic North Hollywood.
-Tonight from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. there will be a checkpoint awaiting your arrival on Hollywood Boulevard at Gower Street in Hollywood.
-Tonight from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. a checkpoint will be running somewhere in the little old lady city of Pasadena (cops aren't saying exactly where it will be operating).
-Tonight from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. the L.A. Sheriff's Department will be running a checkpoint somewhere in the city of Carson.
-Saturday from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. a checkpoint will be running on Western Avenue at Slauson Avenue in South L.A.
-Saturday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. there will be a checkpoint on Oxnard Street at Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Valley (“so glad we're not North Hollywood”) Glen.
-Saturday from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. a checkpoint will be waiting for you party people on Cahuenga Boulevard at Hollywood Boulevard in the heart of Hollywood drunkland.
Caption this photo.; Credit: NFL
-Sunday from 4 p.m. to midnight extra anti-DUI cops will be on the streets of LAPD's Central Bureau area (map), which includes downtown, Boyle Heights, Northeast L.A., Westlake and more. The department calls this type of operation a “saturation patrol.”
-Sunday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. a DUI saturation patrol will hit the streets of LAPD's Topanga Division area (map) in the San Fernando Valley.
-Sunday from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. the saturation patrol game comes to the streets of the 77th Street Division area (map) in South L.A.
-Sunday from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. a DUI saturation patrol comes to the Wilshire Division area (map), which includes parts of Koreatown, Mid-City, Beverly Grove and more.
-Sunday the Culver City Police Department says it “will be deploying roving DUI saturation patrols” in select parts of town.
-Sunday sheriff's officials will be rolling out DUI saturation patrols in the cities of Bellflower and Norwalk. They're not giving us further details.
The Auto Club of Southern California will be offering its Tipsy Tow service from 6 p.m. Sunday to 6 a.m. Monday. The deal is you can get a free, one-way tow home if you live within seven miles of your pickup location. Call 1-800-400-4AAA.
The for-profit designated driver service BeMyDD (Be My Designated Driver) says it's offering $20 off a ride home for new customers who make reservations for Super Bowl Sunday.
There are options. Be safe.
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