CHP says overtime enforcement cut Tulare County DUI deaths, issued 1,670 citations

Captain Goddard of the California Highway Patrol told the Tulare County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 7 that an Office of Traffic Safety grant, ultimately funded through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, provided roughly 1,500 overtime hours to boost enforcement in the county.

The CHP used about 1,400 hours for traffic enforcement and about 100 hours for community outreach, Captain Goddard said. “What brought us to this day basically was running numbers that we find that Tulare County had some of the highest number of fatalities resulting from impaired drivers,” he said.

The CHP said it used the state’s SWITRS crash database to set a baseline for 2022 of 14 fatalities attributed to impaired driving. The agency told the board the program exceeded its goal to reduce deaths, reporting a reduction of four fatalities (from 14 to 10), which the CHP characterized as a 29 percent reduction. The department also said it recorded 216 DUI-involved crashes in the baseline period and reported reducing that figure by 41 crashes, which it said equated to 19 percent.

Captain Goddard provided enforcement counts to the board: 1,670 citations issued, 481 verbal warnings, 41 arrests for DUI (alcohol and drugs), and 31 vehicles impounded for unlicensed drivers. He also thanked partner agencies that worked on the campaign, naming Visalia Police Department, Tulare County Roads, Caltrans, Tulare County Probation and the Tulare County Association of Governments (TCAG).

Supervisor Larry McCarrie, who said he sat on the committee partnering with the CHP, thanked the department and noted a local reduction in complaints on Highway 198 after the campaign began. The CHP presentation noted the department intends to continue prevention and enforcement work beyond the grant period.

The board did not take action on the report; the item was presented for information and discussion.