Santa Maria To Target Holiday Drunken Drivers

Spending time with family is one of the reasons Marlene Galarza is looking forward to the holidays.

When her relatives come together, she says drinks are usually a part of the celebration.

Just this past weekend the Santa Maria police conducted a dui saturation point.

Officers arrested six people who were drinking and driving. Seventeen people were stopped for evaluation for DUI, and three citations were given for open containers in their vehicles.

Galarza says she does not want to be one of those statistics. She says she plans to play it safe.

“I plan to stay home, do a little bit of drinking maybe a glass of wine or two but nothing major, I’ve got to get up and go to work the
next day,” She says.

Santa Maria police are also targeting and arresting those who have existing DUI warrants.

Galarza says she’s more cautious, “Yes, more cautious during the holidays, especially defensive driving you know, that’s when other drivers, tend to drink and drive hopefully that’s not the case but that’d be in a perfect world, so yea, be more cautious about that.”