Prosecutors in seven California counties warned Wednesday that they are seeing a rapid rise in deadly DUI crashes just as people begin socializing for the holidays and planning New Year’s Eve outings.
Traffic fatalities jumped 15% statewide, comparing the most recent statistics for October to a year ago, though not all were linked to impaired driving.
The district attorneys largely blamed the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ve been facing a very difficult time for the last almost two years now,” said Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’re seeing increased DUI fatalities.”
“This has been a very stressful time for everybody,” added Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp. “Alcohol sales have gone up, alcohol consumption has gone up.”
The increase in people killed in DUI crashes in California “echoes a similar trend occurring nationwide,” California Highway Patrol spokeswoman Fran Clader said.
She cited a June warning from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that early estimates showed an increase in traffic fatalities nationwide in 2020. The agency listed the leading causes as impaired driving, speeding, and failing to wear a seatbelt.
California’s second-largest county “is struggling with its worst episode of deadly DUI crashes in two decades,” said San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan, with 37 deaths to date — about double its historical average.
Sacramento County vehicular manslaughter-while-intoxicated cases climbed incrementally from 2017 through last year, but more than doubled this year from 12 to 27.
Among the victims is Mike Dodson, 76, who died three weeks after he was struck while biking on a popular Sacramento County paved trail in June, said Schubert. A 25-year-old man faces murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and other charges.
