With the busy Thanksgiving travel weekend, the local California
Highway Patrol reported the same number of accidents on area roads
as last year over the Thanksgiving weekend.
With the busy Thanksgiving travel weekend, the local California Highway Patrol reported the same number of accidents on area roads as last year over the Thanksgiving weekend.
The local CHP, which governs the highways from Southern San Jose and throughout San Benito County, reported 28 accidents on Highway 152, 156 and 25 over the weekend. Nine of the accidents were reported within San Benito County.
In addition to the 28 accidents reported over the weekend, the CHP also made 19 driving under the influence arrests – a dramatic increase from last year’s five DUI-related arrests.
The increase in DUI arrests was because the CHP increased its DUI saturation patrols over the weekend and was staffed to the maximum, CHP Public Information Officer Jaime Rios said.
“We had officers out to look specifically for DUI drivers,” Rios said.
The extra DUI patrols were out to prevent the 38 accidents and 17 DUI arrests that happened in 2008, Rios said.
“We are constantly out there looking for impaired drivers,” Rios said. “DUIs make up 33 percent of our collisions.”
The CHP reported four DUI-related crashes but only two accidents that resulted in serious injuries.
One accident happened around 2 p.m. Wednesday on Highway 25 less than 150 feet from its intersection with Highway 156. The DUI-related accident occurred when a driver of a 1996 Ford Explorer rear-ended a 2001 Nissan Frontier. The Ford fled the scene and was later picked up by a CHP officer down the road on Highway 25.
The driver of the Nissan, a 48-year-old man, was flown to Regional Medical Center in San Jose after complaining of back and neck pain.
The Ford’s driver likely will be charged on suspicion of a felony hit-and-run and DUI, according to the CHP.
The other serious injury involved a Thanksgiving Day rollover in Gilroy that left a 15-year-old girl with a broken neck. The driver, 19-year-old Avimael Leon, will likely face felony charges of DUI and child endangerment.
Other than those two accidents, there were no serious injuries, Rios said.
“There are so many accidents but none that I can see (having serious injuries),” Rios said.
Other accidents include multiple three-car pile-ups on Highway 152 near Casa de Fruta and a few spinouts on the wet roads, Rios said.
Inside the Hollister city limits, the police received less activity recording only one DUI and two small, one-vehicle accidents, Hollister Police spokesman Sgt. David Westrick said.
“We got lucky,” Westrick said. “The weather may have been a factor or people are just being more responsible, but it was a much safer weekend than normal,”
The San Benito Sheriff’s Office made no DUI-related arrests and reported no accidents over the weekend, Lt. Roy Iler said.
