Sonoma County’s anti-DUI task force wraps up its annual winter holiday crackdown this weekend with two DUI/license checkpoints.

Officers from police agencies in the county also will be out on special DUI patrols, looking for DUI suspects, searching for those with DUI warrants and conducting random DUI probation and parole checks of those convicted of drunken driving.

As is typical, the Avoid the 13 task force won’t say where or what nights the two checkpoints will be. But any checkpoint on Sunday, Jan. 1, or after will be covered by a new state law.

Under the law, AB353, which was cosponsored by by Assemblymen Michael Allen, D-Santa Rosa, and Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, police at DUI checkpoints can’t impound the car of an unlicensed driver  simply because the driver is unlicensed; if a licensed driver is available to drive the car at the time; or if an officer is able to park the car in a place that does not impede traffic or threaten public safety. Cars not retrieved before a checkpoint ends can be impounded.

If a car does get impounded, the registered owner or his or her representative, such as a friend, will be able to retrieve the car as soon as the next day after showing a valid driver’s license and car registration and paying any towing and storage charges. State law now allows cars of unlicensed drivers to be impounded for at least 30 days in most cases.

The new law does not apply to those with suspended or revoked licenses.

The Avoid the 13, which includes officers from all police agencies in the county, is funded by a grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety. The holiday crackdown, which is similar to operations being conducted by police in 37 counties around the state, ends Monday.

As of midnight Wednesday, the Avoid the 13 had arrested 132 people since the holiday campaign began Dec. 16.

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