As people prepare to ring in the new year, the California Highway Patrol is reminding everyone to stay safe during the festivities.
CHP is prepping for another Maximum Enforcement Period (MEP) that will begin Tuesday on New Year's Eve at 6:01 p.m. and run through 11:59 p.m. on New Year's Day.
“New year’s comes on a week day, so it’s a little less busy at night. Hopefully people pre-plan their parties or events and they’ll have designated drivers” said Officer J.W. Townsen.
Townsen also says the recent Christmas enforcement period was slower than usual due to road closures.
“You avoid the bigger, more horrific, more injury type collisions because of the slower speed and everybody is bumper to bumper, so you have those lack of patience crashes, but you don’t have big ones” added Towsen.
According to CHP, they will have 80% of staff working throughout the enforcement period which typically means about seven officers on duty for each shift.
