Labor Day Weekend is a three-day party, the last revelry of a spent summer. It’s likely that more people will celebrate with drink than with sober remembrances of the social and economic achievements of the American worker. And, unfortunately, many of those drinkers will get behind the wheel of an automobile.
There is ample anecdotal evidence that drunk driving is all-too common on the coast — just as it is across the nation and the world. Each week the Review’s police log contains multiple arrests for impaired driving. Those arrests — even those that thankfully don’t come after an accident — can turn upside down the lives of otherwise thoughtful individuals who make the mistake of having one too many and then getting behind the wheel.
Lately the area police departments have been trying to make our roads safer. Earlier this month, COAST-21 — a task force that includes the Half Moon Bay and Pacifica police departments as well as the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control — conducted a pair of stings in the city of Half Moon Bay.
First, the task force used an undercover and under-aged “buyer” who approached older patrons at Coastside alcohol retailers and asked for a little help buying alcohol. Three adults were caught helping the under-aged decoy buy the booze and they were all arrested. Then the task force sent the decoy into 15 stores, bars and restaurants to see if the clerks would sell alcohol to someone without checking ID. Thankfully, only two — Siam Restaurant and Mercado Guadalajara — sold to the decoy. Thirteen Coastside businesses did not. Safeway, Longs Drugs, Bay Chevron, Ernie’s Liquors, New Leaf Community Markets, Rite Aid, Taqueria La Mexicana, Tres Amigos, Half Moon Bay Beacon, Happy Taco, Round Table, San Benito House and More for Less should all be commended for their attention to the law.
On Monday, local police will be paying particular attention to our roads. They plan a checkpoint on Highway 1 and will be looking for a range of driving infractions, perhaps most notably drinking and driving. Hopefully, readers will get the message: Drinking and driving can ruin your day.
— Clay Lambert
