Police to focus on drunk drivers

Deepa Bharath

Police will step up their efforts to reduce traffic accidents

involving drunk drivers in the city, a popular destination for dining

and entertainment.

The Costa Mesa Police Department will focus on DUI enforcement

during the “You Drink and Drive, You Lose” national campaign today

through July 10, Costa Mesa Police Officer Bryan Wadkins said.

The city has seen a “serious increase” in DUI collisions in 2004,

he said. As of May 31, there have been 62 accidents caused by drunk

drivers in Costa Mesa, Wadkins said.

“That’s an 11% increase compared to the same time last year,” he

said. “We also had three DUI fatalities in our city. We had only one

last year.”

The city has seen more than its share of drunk drivers this year,

Wadkins said.

The first alcohol-related fatality this year happened on March 5,

when Pawel Stanislaw Wiater of Costa Mesa struck two pedestrians who

were crossing 17th Street after leaving Pierce Street Annex. Andre

Felipe de Oliveira Braga, 31, died on the scene while another

25-year-old man suffered serious injuries.

On May 18, two college-age, Newport-Mesa men died in a car crash

on Placentia Avenue after the driver lost control, drove onto the

sidewalk, hit a tree, then ran head-on into a light pole, causing the

car to flip and land on its roof.

More recently, two Costa Mesa traffic officers were involved in a

motorcycle crash on Memorial Day on the San Diego Freeway. One of the

officers was injured, while the other rescued not only his partner

but the allegedly drunk motorcyclist who caused the crash.

Cosa Mesa police will conduct two sobriety checkpoints as part of

their special enforcement, one today and another on July 1 -- both

near 17th Street and Westminster Avenue, where one of the fatalities

occurred, Wadkins said.

“It has been one of our problem areas, and we want to send a clear

message to the people in that neighborhood,” he said.

The various incidents this year have given officers a new sense of

purpose, Wadkins said.

“We’re going out there with renewed energy and inspiration to do

our job and make the streets safer,” he said.

Costa Mesa police officers make a record number of DUI arrests in

their city compared to others in the county, but these incidents are

on the rise, Wadkins said.

“Many of the younger drivers are more afraid of being arrested

than being injured,” he said. “They don’t think they are vulnerable

to injury. They think it can’t happen to them.”

The number of DUI crashes has been rising nationally for the last

three years, said Reidel Post, executive director of the Orange

County chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“Sadly, we believe the reason for that is complacency on the part

of the public,” she said.

One way to counter the problem is to support law enforcement

officials and encourage their work, Post said. Volunteers from the

group will be at both of Costa Mesa’s sobriety checkpoints to

distribute informative brochures to the public and to provide moral

support to the officers, she said.

“There’s also another reason we’re there,” Post added. “And that

is to say ‘thank you’ to the officers for working these checkpoints.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.