"How do you live with that?" Elk Grove police crack down on dangerous holiday driving
ELK GROVE — A string of deadly crashes in the Sacramento region is putting safety in the spotlight with factors like DUI, speed, and reckless driving contributing to deaths and arrests in recent weeks.
For advocates with Mothers Against Drunk Driving like Rhonda Campbell, she is urging people to make the pledge ToGetThere this holiday season by vowing not to drive impaired and keep the streets safe after what seems like a surge in fatalities.
"I'll tell you it doesn't just seem like an increase, it is. We are at a 16-year high for driving-impaired crashes right now," Campbell said. "Which is just ridiculous, and what goes through my mind is, we have so many options as a society."
Those options she's referring to are the rise in popularity of rideshares like Uber and Lyft. She encourages people to always plan ahead and have a strategy in place so you don't get behind the wheel and put your life or someone else's at risk. Campbell, who lost her sister Irene to a drunk driving crash, reflects on how her holidays are spent visiting her sister's grave.
"Nobody should have to spend Christmas morning standing in wet grass looking at the name of somebody they love on a piece of marble because somebody else made a decision that is 100% preventable," Campbell said.
As for law enforcement, they are echoing concerns over dangerous driving. The Elk Grove Police Department is one of many agencies establishing DUI checkpoints across the city through the New Year celebrations.
"Odds are, if you are going to take that chance and put your life and others' lives at risk, we're going to have officers out there solely looking for you," said Officer Jason Jimenez, a spokesperson for Elk Grove police.
The DUI checkpoints are a way for authorities to not only deter people from driving impaired but also to educate the public on the consequences of what happens if you take the risk.
"Maybe that prevents someone from getting behind the wheel when they shouldn't," Jimenez said.
Campbell, who is spending her holiday mourning another spent without her sister, encourages others to have a plan and imagine the life-altering decision it could be to take someone's life because of getting behind the wheel impaired.
"How do you live with that? You kill somebody else's baby happens every day. How do you live with that?" Campbell said.
To learn more about the work Campbell and others with MADD are doing, visit their website.