Sacramentans Drink and Drive at Raley Field During “Holiday Sobriety Challenge” SONOMA, Calif. (IMMEDIATE RELEASE) “” People were drinking and driving at Raley Field in Sacramento on Friday, Dec. 16, all under the watchful eye of the California Highway Patrol and other law enforcement agencies from around Northern California. Twelve people participated in the 9th “Holiday Sobriety Challenge,” a unique event featuring a controlled wine and beer tasting experiment that graphically illustrated the dangers of drinking and driving, even at levels well below the legal limit (.08-percent). The event was hosted by Infineon Raceway, the Jim Russell Racing Schools, which is based at Infineon Raceway, and the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball’s Oakland A’s. The Office of Traffic Safety was also a co-sponsor of the event. Twenty eight law enforcement agencies from Sacramento, Placer and Yolo counties participated in the Holiday Sobriety Challenge, which signaled the start of a concentrated 18-day mobilization against drunk and impaired drivers that will end at midnight on Jan. 2, 2006. This marked the first time in the nine-year history of the event that it had been held away from Infineon Raceway. “We began this event nine years ago with the hope of sending a very important message out to drivers, and we are glad that we could take this on the road to Sacramento and create even more awareness,” said Steve Page, president and general manager of Infineon Raceway. Testers were given anywhere from one to three glasses of wine or beer upon arrival, before submitting to a field of sobriety tests, including a breathalyzer analysis administered by a law enforcement officer. Once it was determined participants were at the appropriate level, they were asked to get behind the wheel of an automobile and drive through pre-determined courses. All drivers were accompanied by an instructor from the Jim Russell Racing Schools, and tests included lane changing, parallel parking, turning radius and speed drills. Twelve people, a combination of media members and citizens, took the test with blood-alcohol content levels ranging from .038-percent to .066-percent, well below the legal limit. Of the 12 testers, five failed the simple test. The event has had a 70-percent fail rate over the last six years. “This really showed me that even one drink can adversely affect my driving skills,” said Bill George, owner of Nimbus Marketing Inc., a public relations and advertising firm in Sacramento. “It really surprised me. I thought I’d be OK but this was a real eye-opener.” In 2004, 1,462 people were killed and 31,538 were injured in alcohol-related crashes in California, compared to 1,445 fatalities and 31,337 injuries in 2003. “Impaired driving is a violent crime that tops the traffic safety hit list in California,” said CHP Commissioner Mike Brown. “There will be no warnings and there will not be second chances. We’re going to be looking for impaired drivers and if we catch you and you’re convicted, you will go to jail.” More than 350 law enforcement agencies statewide are participating in the state’s most aggressive impaired driving crackdowns of the year. The event on Friday was held in connection with STAR (Statewide Traffic Action Response), a coalition of five traffic and safety related departments under the state Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.