Drunk Driving

Driving While Insane -- Vehicular Troubles in the News

SF, Stop Passing Out Drunk In Your Car!

CHP Urges Sobriety on Super Bowl Sunday (Smart) With Series of Strained Football Puns (Silly)

'I don't know, Ponch, you think all these football puns will convince people to avoid getting a DUI?'Broaching a serious subject via humorous means is often a dicey proposition. Play it too light and no one notices the wit; play it too heavy and you've trivialized your subject. Truly, it requires a ... More >>

Aisle Seat

'I don't know, Ponch, you think all these football puns will convince people to avoid getting a DUI?'Broaching a serious subject via humorous means is often a dicey proposition. Play it too light and no one notices the wit; play it too heavy and you've trivialized your subject. Truly, it requires a ... More >>

Lawyer for tiger mauling victim has own legal problems

'I don't know, Ponch, you think all these football puns will convince people to avoid getting a DUI?'Broaching a serious subject via humorous means is often a dicey proposition. Play it too light and no one notices the wit; play it too heavy and you've trivialized your subject. Truly, it requires a ... More >>

Death, Maiming, Money, and Muni

The enormous costs -- human and financial -- of bad drivers and lax discipline at the San Francisco Municipal Railway

Suspect to SFPD: 'I'll Admit It, I Am Drunk'

Oh, dear. It seems some amiable fellow threw back a few too many beers and was subsequently picked up by the cops. I can't really make this story any funnier than the arrest report, reproduced below.04/30/09        1:45 am        ... More >>

Your San Francisco DUI Checkpoint Tally

In a show of gamesmanship perhaps akin to fox hunters blowing a "hunt's up" bugle call before commencing on the ride, the San Francisco Police Department announced it would be setting up a DUI checkpoint in parts unknown from late Saturday until the wee hours of Sunday. It turns out that checkpoin ... More >>

How Do You Manage To Get Busted For Drunk Driving Even Though You're In the Back of a Cab? Here's How.

The San Francisco Police Department has proven that a soused man sitting in the back of a taxi can still be nailed for drunk driving -- provided he irritates his cabdriver enough. A pair of police at Holloway and Arellano Avenues were flagged down by a cabbie early Saturday morning who, according to ... More >>

(Uh! With Your Drunk Self!) Say It Loud: I'm Blitzed and I'm Proud!

​There are many responses to the accusation "You're drunk!" My personal favorite is to compose yourself, get down off the table, and demonstratively state: "Well, at least I'm something." Always good for a laugh. Those waiters at the Benihana are still talking about it. But it wouldn't be so much ... More >>

Weekend DUI Checkpoint Catches -- Wait for it -- Alleged Drunk Driver!

No, that's not former Gov. Gray Davis​Yesterday we wrote about how a late August San Francisco DUI checkpoint didn't manage to snare a single alleged drunk driver -- but did result in 23 people having their cars towed away for various infractions. Also, due to the checkpoint's official tally b ... More >>

Too $hort Arrested for DUI in Vegas

Too Drunk? Too $hort​Say it ain't so, $hort. This may have slipped under the radar due to all the music-related stuff going on last weekend, but on Aug 27, TMZ.com reported that Oakland rap pioneer Too $hort, ne Todd Anthony Shaw, had been arrested in Las Vegas under suspicion of driving under th ... More >>

Chronic City: Taking the High Road -- Attorneys Say DUI Laws Shouldn't Apply To Pot

Students for Sensible Drug PolicyHey, watch where you're going!​Remember the first few times you drove high? You knew you were stoned, you knew it might be dangerous to operate a motor vehicle, and you drove like a little old lady.This tendency of stoners to overcompensate for their impairment is ... More >>

Strange Courtfellows — Driver and people he ran into in parking lot

Students for Sensible Drug PolicyHey, watch where you're going!​Remember the first few times you drove high? You knew you were stoned, you knew it might be dangerous to operate a motor vehicle, and you drove like a little old lady.This tendency of stoners to overcompensate for their impairment is ... More >>

Man Who Very Nearly Quotes George Thorogood To Cops Arrested For DUI

​There's always a right and wrong way to do things, even when you're doing the wrong thing. So when you're parked on the sidewalk a hop, skip, and a jump from an elementary school at 6:20 in the morning with your throbbing skull resting on the steering wheel -- as was the case  recently in th ... More >>

Note To the Egg Nog-Sloshed: Get Ready To Get Nailed By Holiday Sobriety Checkpoints

Not just Santa Claus is coming to town this holiday, folks. State, federal and city law via Flikr by McBLG97On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, a DUI from the SFPD....​enforcement will be out in force for 17 days starting this weekend to nail your drunk ass if you get behind the ... More >>

No ID Yet for Pedestrian Killed in Mission Bay Accident

View Larger Map The San Francisco Medical Examiner has not yet received the body of a 53-year-old man killed in the wee hours this morning when a pickup truck and garbage truck collided near Fourth and King. Neither the ME or police would release the man's identity. The driver of that pickup truck, ... More >>

Blood Simple: Plebotomist goes for the neck

View Larger Map The San Francisco Medical Examiner has not yet received the body of a 53-year-old man killed in the wee hours this morning when a pickup truck and garbage truck collided near Fourth and King. Neither the ME or police would release the man's identity. The driver of that pickup truck, ... More >>

Don't Rear-End a Cop While Drunk, and Other Lessons From the Police Report

Friends don't let wanted friends go to jail because of unnecessary seatbelt violations.​1. Buckle up, especially while being driven around by a wanted man -- for his sake. On Tuesday near McAllister and Larkin streets, two officers were patrolling when they saw a passenger in a car wearing no se ... More >>

Drunks Beware: Cops Out in Force on Memorial Day Weekend

​Aficionados of drunk driving are well-advised to stick to videogames this Memorial Day weekend. Starting tonight, a team of half a dozen motorcycle cops will hit the streets to ferret out ... drivers on iPhones. What? "People get distracted by eating or drinking, talking to their passengers, read ... More >>

Cops Promise To Be Scourge of July 4 Weekend Drunk Drivers

V for sobriety. Wait a minute...​With aggressive language bordering on Winston Churchill's grim 1940 exhortation that his countrymen "defend our island whatever the cost may be," local law enforcement officials promised a "saturation" to root out every last drunken sod who sees fit to slip behind ... More >>

San Francisco Cracks Top-10 DUI Cities

No, they're in here​San Francisco cracks so many national Top-10 lists, there's often reason to celebrate. So, perhaps it's excessive celebration that led to the city's, er, impressive No. 8 spot on a recent list of which cities host the most convicted drunk drivers. In fact, four California citie ... More >>

Hey Drunks! Here's Where New Year's DUI Checkpoint Will Be.

McBLG97​Once again, you can't argue the San Francisco Police Department isn't offering drunken, antisocial motorists a sporting chance. Only the most oblivious, besotted fools will fail to learn that on New Year's Eve, a sobriety checkpoint is planned for Eighth and Folsom between 8:30 and 3 a.m. ... More >>

No DUI Deaths in City Over Holidays, But Many DUI Arrests

​The saturation of cops busting drunk drivers in the city over the holidays this year has been rivaled only by the saturation of press releases we receive about their latest arrest totals. The good news today is this was the third consecutive year with no DUI-related fatalities in the city. San Fr ... More >>

Police Out Looking for Drunk Drivers This Weekend; Stay Sober or Call a Cab

drunk with power​San Francisco police are giving you a chance to steer away from a criminal record this weekend.Officers will be out conducting another DUI checkpoint, stopping drivers and making sure they don't smell alcohol wafting from their mouths. And because they hate doing the extralong pap ... More >>

'Drunk as a Skunk' Driver Plays Bumper Cars

Throw a blanket on them​There is driving drunk and then there is driving really drunk. A Haight woman's night of good fun turned into a night in jail after she got wasted and tried to drive home, hitting six cars in less than a block.The intoxicated woman was driving a convertible along Corbett Av ... More >>

Hey Drunk Drivers Beware: Cops Out in Force This Weekend

Consider yourself warned.​You can't say you haven't been warned. Police are telling you now that they will be stationed in the Richmond District this weekend, looking for drunk drivers. Cops will set up a DUI checkpoint at Geary Boulevard and 9th Avenue Saturday night starting at 8:30 p.m.So here ... More >>

Apple Asked to Scrap Apps That Help Users Evade DUI Checkpoints

What does your app tell you?​Earlier today, SF Weekly told readers about the controversial gay-cure app that's put Apple at the center of an uncomfortable high-tech debate about religion and gays. Now, U.S. lawmakers are challenging the company to scrap another iPhone app -- one that alerts users ... More >>

Apple Dumps DUI Checkpoint App

This is something your iPhone can't help you with ​SF Weekly readers might recall the controversy that ensued after Apple released an iPhone app that would let drivers know exactly where and when they might be crossing a DUI checkpoint. Of course, it wasn't nearly as controversial as the app that ... More >>

Drunk Drivers Hate Other Drunk Drivers

Everyone hates drunk drivers -- even drunks​Even the news that police are staging a DUI checkpoint the entire weekend starting Friday should be enough to sober you up. But just in case you still plan on hitting the bottle hard to celebrate America's Independence Day, here is some blunt advice: Don ... More >>

The Fourth of July Weekend DUI Count Is in

Our founding fathers would be disappointed. ​We knew that even when warned about DUI checkpoints, there's a good chance some would party too hard over the Fourth of July weekend and then foolishly get behind the wheel.And now we have statistics to back this up: Police report that 30 drivers were a ... More >>

Andrew Vargas Arrested in Hit-and-Run That Critically Injures 9-Year-Old Boy

Pedestrian hit​Update 1:45 p.m.: Police said they arrested 21-year-old Andrew Vargas on suspicion of driving under the influence. He has been booked on felony charges for hit and run.  Read more after the jump. Hayward police detained the driver they believe hit a San Francisco boy last night ... More >>

Ryan White, Kid Critically Injured in Hit and Run, Gives a Thumbs Up

Ryan White​Ryan White, the nine-year-old Phillies fan who was tragically hit by a drunk driver after the Giants game last week, has been upgraded from critical to serious condition, his parents said Tuesday afternoon. Ken and Roseanne White released a statement to the media thanking the community ... More >>

Cops Bust Drunk Man Driving in Carpool Lane with His Dog

​Trying to sneak into the carpool lane with a canine "passenger" might not seem like a good idea when you're sober. After a few beers, it's an even worse idea, but no longer necessarily looks that way.Exhibit A: The man who was busted by police during rush hour yesterday afternoon for driving his ... More >>

Border Collies on the Move!

Smarter than the average drunk...​Yesterday we brought you the tale of a drunk driver who attempted to crash the carpool lane with his border collie as the requisite second passenger. There's little that border collies can't do. But they cannot drive cars nor serve as your passengers in the carpoo ... More >>

Drunk Man Carjacked, Kidnapped, Forced to Strip Naked

Booze cruise ​If you are wasted when you are carjacked is it really in your best interest to call the cops? More importantly, does that make you a victim or a criminal -- or both?According to San Francisco police, a highly intoxicated man was cruising through the Bayview neighborhood on Monday nig ... More >>

Thanksgiving: A Deadly Day on the Road

That's one bottle of Wild Turkey too many ​I don't know about you, but at our Thanksgiving dinners there's always that one person who consumes more Wild Turkey than turkey. And thinking of this made us wonder: Why hasn't the San Francisco Police Department made any plans for DUI checkpoints this T ... More >>

Charlie Bell, Golden State Warriors Player, Allegedly Shows Up to DUI Hearing Drunk

Slammed Drunk?​In what appears to be a boozy cry for help, Golden State Warriors guard Charlie Bell allegedly went to his DUI hearing -- drunk.Bell was taken to jail Thursday in his hometown of Flint, Mich., after a scheduled alcohol screening showed that Bell's blood alcohol content level was .09 ... More >>

Cops Crackdown on Holiday Drunks

Don't be stupid!​Your once-a-year holiday reprieve from sobriety checkpoints over Thanksgiving has come and gone. Starting tomorrow, cops will be swarming the Bay Area highways and local streets, looking for drunks and drugged out drivers on the road. It's part of a 17-day crackdown to deter those ... More >>

Call a Cab, DUI Checkpoint Planned for Tomorrow

If you can't read this sign after a night of drinking, then don't drive!​We told readers we would let them know where and when the next DUI checkpoint would be during this holiday crackdown. So here it is: Tomorrow night don't think you can swerve past the flurry of police that will be stationed a ... More >>

Hey, Drunks: DUI Checkpoint Planned for New Year's Eve

You're screwed!​San Francisco police have really honed their skills in nabbing wasted drivers this season, where they've already arrested 84 DUI suspects, a 29 percent increase from this same time last year. And they aren't stopping there. Police are planning yet another sobriety checkpoint on New ... More >>

San Francisco Rings in 2012 with No DUI-Related Deaths

Thanks for not driving after drinking your body weight in alcohol ​What better way to kick off the New Year than to just be alive? Police are thrilled to report that not one single person was killed in DUI-related accidents over the holidays, and that includes Christmas and New Years -- when peopl ... More >>

Scott Mitchell, Man Who Drove Through Muni Tunnel, Accused of Being Drunk

Don't they teach people how to drive in Sebastopol? ​Police arrested 40-year-old Scott Mitchell on suspicion of driving while intoxicated after he got his SUV stuck in the Muni tunnel just in time for the the morning commute to start. Officer Albie Esparza couldn't explain why Mitchell drove into ... More >>

Brazil Sues Twitter Over DUI Checkpoint Tweets

Follow this guy, and be sure to miss the sobriety checkpoints ​Last week, Twitter users were outraged by the company's new policy to allow censorship country-by-country -- not that this has will have any influence in places like China or Iran, where tweeting is entirely blocked. In any event, the ... More >>