As the holiday season approaches, the inevitable drinking and partying will be sure to follow.

Recently, the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration invested $3.7 million in sobriety checkpoints through mini-grants, which have been distributed to 94 law enforcement agencies throughout the state to get drunken drivers off the road.

In a collaborative effort, the California Office of Traffic Safety, California Highway Patrol and the Department of Transportation are working together to prevent drunken driving this year.

In a statement released by the Office of Traffic Safety, more than 450 law enforcement agencies throughout California, including the CHP, are preparing for a DUI crackdown in 35 counties, including Sacramento.

The statewide effort will include a significant increase in officers on the streets in the form of saturation patrols and sobriety checks.

Saturation patrols are legal in all 50 states. These patrols are concentrated enforcement efforts that target impaired drivers by observing moving violations such as drunken driving, speeding and aggressive driving.

At sobriety checkpoints, law enforcement officials will evaluate drivers for signs of alcohol or drug impairment at certain points on the roadway. Vehicles are stopped in a specific sequence, such as every other vehicle or every fourth, fifth or sixth.

Sacramento State’s University Police Department will be joining in the effort to curb drunken driving as well this season.

Sgt. Kelly Clark said that campus police will be adhering to state police procedures this season to make sure that the streets around Sac State and other outlying areas are safe from drunken drivers.

“We don’t have a limited jurisdiction,” Clark said. “The California penal code says we can go anywhere we want.”

Clark said the impact of DUI-related accidents to communities is horrible.

“We’re very, very supportive, and we’re very aggressive in our enforcement,” Clark said.

In his 28 years as a police officer, Clark has witnessed multiple fatal accidents, and he said most of them involved drunken drivers.

Clark said the checkpoints are part of a grand scheme called Avoid the Twelve program.

Avoid the Twelve allows law enforcement agencies to increase DUI prevention and enforcement efforts by combining resources.

Participating agencies include the Elk Grove Police Department, CHP, California State Police, campus police and many other Sacramento county police departments.

In 2005, California accounted for 1,574 DUI-related deaths, which is nearly an 8 percent increase since the previous year, according to a CHP DUI report. In 2004, 1,462 people were killed in DUI-related accidents. An additional 30,810 people were injured in alcohol-related crashes.

In a press release, Office of Traffic Safety Director Christopher J. Murphy said the increase in impaired driving fatalities in California has been a serious concern for the past seven years.

“To make an even greater impact, we’re asking for citizens throughout the state to serve as an extra set of eyes,” said Murphy, who is also the chair for the Governor’s Highway Safety Association.

According to a CHP report on drunken drivers, there are a variety of clues that might indicate a drunken driver, including wide turns, swerving, turning abruptly and driving with headlights off.

“Knowing that the public is also on the lookout for drunk drivers is a powerful deterrent,” Murphy said.

CHP does not encourage citizens to try and stop a car with a suspected drunken driver or to speak with the driver.

CHP encourages 9-1-1 calls so dispatchers can alert police immediately. Citizens can remain anonymous.

Josh Staab can be reached at [email protected].