12-hour statewide effort focuses on identifying and arresting impaired drivers

By Jaime Coffee, Director of Communications, Office of Media Relations, California Highway Patrol

SACRAMENTO — One impaired driver can change or end a life in an instant. To help prevent these tragedies, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) is mobilizing uniformed personnel statewide for a targeted enforcement effort to keep impaired drivers off California roads. Drivers should plan ahead, arrange a sober ride and never get behind the wheel while impaired.

Beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2, and continuing through 5:59 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3, all uniformed CHP personnel will participate in a statewide Maximum Enforcement Period (MEP). During the MEP, officers will increase their presence on California roads and focus on identifying and stopping impaired drivers.

“The message is clear: Impaired driving will not be tolerated on California roads. It is preventable, dangerous and puts every person nearby at risk. If you plan to drink or may be impaired, arrange a sober ride home. During this statewide enforcement period, CHP personnel of every rank will make it their mission to identify and remove impaired drivers from our roads.” 

– CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee

By the Numbers

From 2022 through 2024, data from the CHP’s Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System show that alcohol- or drug-impaired driving contributed to an average of nearly 800 fatal crashes each year and a total of more than 39,400 injury crashes on California roads.

During last October’s 12-hour MEP, held over the Halloween weekend, CHP officers arrested more than 500 impaired drivers. Officers also issued nearly 2,000 speeding citations, including 96 citations for drivers traveling faster than 100 mph.

Help Keep Impaired Drivers Off the Road

As California’s state police, the CHP remains committed to keeping California’s roads safe for everyone. The CHP asks the public to remain vigilant and report suspected impaired drivers. Driving unusually slowly, swerving between lanes or nearly colliding with obstacles are a few indicators that a driver may be operating a vehicle under the influence.

If you see a suspected impaired driver, call 9-1-1 and provide as much information as possible, including the vehicle’s make, model, license plate number and direction of travel.

Never drive impaired or ride with an impaired driver. Designate a sober driver, use public transportation or arrange for a rideshare service.

Together we can help keep California’s roads safe for everyone. 

The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security.

By Contra Costa Continuum of Care

Janika spent most of her childhood living with her family in Richmond and Antioch. At 18, she says, “I moved out of my mom’s house and got my own apartment”. She was successfully housed for years until her father’s illness in 2024 triggered debilitating grief and mental health challenges. “I started realizing I wasn’t myself. I was going through a depressed mode and also a manic mode”, she explained. While in Chicago managing her father’s affairs, she remembers, “I wasn’t communicating. I wasn’t answering my phone. I was just falling off of my responsibilities.”

She returned six weeks later to an eviction notice on her door. “I ended up getting kicked out. I didn’t really think I would get kicked out,” she reflects. 

She was homeless with her two small children for almost a year until one day in May 2025, when, she says, “I was in a hotel room and thought I was pregnant. In my mind I thought, ‘I cannot be living like this.” She continued, “Something in my mind clicked. I started reaching out to resources and trying to get myself back together.”

She reached out to her CalWORKs case manager who connected her to a special CORE mobile outreach team for CalWORKs families. She explained that with her income, “rent had to be $1,000 or less. It’s hard to find a place that low.” A CORE team member she worked with agrees, saying, “people can’t sustain rent just on the income they get from CalWORKs. Government assistance is not enough for people to survive on.”

Janika was fortunate to find a furnished housing opportunity on her own, within walking distance of her son’s school. Afraid the opportunity might pass before Janika could be connected to a Rapid Rehousing program, her CORE case manager researched something that might provide rental support more quickly. She was not eligible for some programs because she didn’t have a high enough income and another program had restrictions that conflicted with the particular housing situation she had identified. They were thrilled to learn that Janika qualified for rental support through through Behavioral Health Bridge Housing. Janika explained, “My rent is $950, they pay $650 and I pay $300. I get this help for a year.” 

Today, Janika and her three children are safely housed in East County, close to schools and services.

“My son has his own room. That was important to me,” she shared.

Janika has continued attending mental health appointments, staying connected to her children’s services, and has begun planning for childcare and her own education.

“I talked to my worker today about going back to school. I want to do public health or become a social worker. I want to help people in my situation.’

When asked about her future, she says, “I see myself with a good stable job.”

She hopes others, especially single mothers, hear her message: “I want other single mothers who feel like they don’t have nobody to know there’s always somebody. Don’t give up.”

For more information visit Contra Costa Continuum of Care | Contra Costa Health.