If you’re planning an exciting weekend that involves alcohol, think very carefully before starting up your car. Several Sacramento area police departments will be looking for folks with a blood alcohol content of .08% or more. In fact, the Rancho Cordova Police will have a sobriety checkpoint an various evenings now through September 1st.

Rancho Cordova PD are among many officials participating in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s nationwide campaign called “Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest”. Sacramento police are also setting up a checkpoint downtown. Both locations will check motorists for drunken and drug-impaired drivers.

Davis Police Chief is concerned about the danger drivers under the influence can create. “Because we’re committed to ending the carnage, we’re intensifying enforcement during the crackdown…We’ll be especially vigilant during high risk nighttime hours when impaired drivers are most likely to be on our roads”.

In 2006, almost 13,500 people died throughout the country in accidents in which motorists were illegally impaired.  In California alone, there were 1,597 alcohol related deaths.

A nation wide program targeting young male drivers, the group that most often drive under the influence, will cost more than $30 million in state and federal funds spent on high visibility television and radio ads.  Another $20 million will be spent nation wide on extra police enforcement, including sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols during the enforcement period.

According to the Traffic Safety Administration, well-publicized DUI enforcement activities can reduce alcohol-related fatalities by up to 20%.