CHP launches statewide DUI crackdown ahead of summer weekend

The California Highway Patrol will be out in force across the Golden State this weekend as the agency launches a statewide DUI crackdown on the first weekend of summer.

CHP will deploy every uniformed officer statewide for a 12-hour “Maximum Enforcement Period” focused on impaired driving, the agency said in a news release.

The crackdown runs from 6 p.m. Saturday to 6 a.m, Sunday morning.

“Summer brings more people onto California’s roadways, increasing the risks of impaired driving,” CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee said in a statement.

“Impaired driving continues to claim hundreds of lives in California each year and forever changes countless others,” he added. “These tragedies are entirely preventable.”

The crackdown comes as CHP warns that weekend nights and early mornings remain among the most dangerous times for impaired-driving crashes — with summer travel, parties and celebrations adding to the risk.

California sees an average of 34,000 impaired-driving crashes each year.

Between 2023 and 2025, DUI-related crashes in California killed an average of more than 800 people and injured nearly 20,000 others each year, according to the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System.

Nationwide, impaired drivers are involved in about 30% of traffic deaths, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The agency urhed drivers to plan ahead by designating a sober driver, calling a rideshare, using public transportation or staying overnight if they plan to drink or use impairing substances.

“CHP officers will be out in force, removing impaired drivers from our roads and helping ensure everyone reaches their destination safely,” Duyree said.

The DUI crackdown follows a separate CHP enforcement blitz earlier this year targeting speeding drivers across California.

During CHP’s most recent 12-hour DUI-focused enforcement surge in October 2025, officers made more than 500 DUI arrests statewide.

Officers also issued nearly 1,950 speeding citations during that operation, including nearly 100 tickets to drivers going more than 100 mph, and made more than 8,000 enforcement contacts.

CHP officers conducted 122 sobreity checkpoints statewide in 2025, screening more than 45,000 vehicles and arresting 172 impaired drivers.

During the first quarter of 2026, officers screened nearly 3,400 vehicles and made 11 DUI arrests.

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