DUI crashes in California are 75 percent more likely to happen on Super Bowl Sunday than on regular Sundays in January and February, a study finds.

That figure from an analysis of fatal and injury crashes from 2002 to 2011 was much higher than a similar study covering 1994 to 2002 that found a 41 percent increase in DUI crashes, reported the Automobile Club of Southern California, which conducted both studies. The studies excluded holiday weekends of New Year’s, Presidents Day and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

The latest analysis found 642 alcohol-related fatal crashes had occurred on Super Bowl Sundays over the 10 years studied, 276 more than calculated for regular Sundays. So about an average of 28 more for each Super Bowl Sunday.

The CHP this week said its stats show that alcohol was a factor inĀ  nearly 25 percent of crashes that occurred statewide on Super Bowl Sunday in 2010, the most recent year that data is available for. Those crashes, which totaled 211, resulted in the deaths of six people and injuries to 124.

On average, the CHP made nearly 450 DUI arrests on each of the Super Bowl Sundays for the last three years. In Sonoma County, 14 people were arrested on DUI and alcohol-related charges last year on Super Bowl Sunday.

The high number of DUI-related crashes has prompted the CHP to boost its patrols this Sunday, including in Sonoma County.

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