| Most Fresno car accident lawyers will admit that | | | | significant decrease in traffic collisions, all during an |
| DUI car accidents are a problem for Fresno | | | | increase in population. The study revealed that in |
| residents. Fresno is pulling out all the stops to nab | | | | 2002, 26,000 traffic citations were given out, |
| DUIs before they hurt or kill themselves or other | | | | followed by 65,000 in 2003 and 85,947 in 2004. |
| drivers. As recently as 2006, 38 people were | | | | During that same three-year span, car crashes |
| killed and 1,749 injured in Fresno car collisions. | | | | went from 4,502 in 2002 to 4,314 in 2003, and |
| Alcohol related car crashes accounted for 16 | | | | decreased again to 4,136 in 2004. Of those |
| fatalities and 235 personal injuries. That was | | | | numbers, injury collisions dropped from 1,750 in |
| enough for Fresno. Police set up roadblocks, and | | | | 2002 to 1,587 in 2004, while fatal car collisions |
| conducted stakeouts using night-vision goggles, | | | | dropped from 52 in 2002 to 30 in 2004. In Fresno |
| satellite tracking devices and video cameras in a | | | | County, where this traffic enforcement program |
| massive crackdown on drunken drivers. | | | | is not in effect, the car crash rate went up during |
| These aggressive tactics have made Fresno one | | | | these same three years. |
| of the toughest cities in America to get a DUI. | | | | Mothers Against Drunk Driving pronounced |
| While bars and restaurants complain, police say | | | | Fresno's efforts as among the most aggressive in |
| the four-year crackdown yielded a dramatic drop | | | | the nation. The National Highway Traffic Safety |
| in deadly Fresno car accidents. The draconian | | | | Administration ranks Fresno among eight cities |
| efforts include staking out bars for drunks | | | | demonstrating sustained, high-visibility, |
| stumbling to their cars, setting up multiple DUI | | | | impaired-driving enforcement. |
| checkpoints, even planting GPS devices on the | | | | Fresno's wide, flat streets with long cruising |
| vehicles of convicted drunk drivers to catch | | | | distances between stoplights are a temptation for |
| parole violators. | | | | many drives to put the "pedal to the metal." |
| The efforts worked. The number of DUI arrests | | | | Fresno also has a large number of Latin American |
| rose steadily from 2,169 in 2002 to almost 3,000 | | | | and Southeast Asian immigrants, some of whom |
| in 2006. A study conducted by Fresno's | | | | may be driving illegally or are unfamiliar with the |
| Community Regional Medical Center found that | | | | rules of the road. |
| the steep increase in traffic citations resulted in a | | | | |