As Labor Day weekend comes along every year, the California Highway Patrol is on high alert for impaired driving this weekend, to make sure everyone is safe on the road.
Eric Strecker, a Trooper for CHP says "There's a lot of people out there using the roadways, and unfortunately there's a lot of good people making not the best choices."
Strecker says last year alone they had over 900 arrests for impaired drivers and 46 fatalities. He adds "It's a time we see a ton of people on the road way and a ton of people coming up to Tahoe."
With many people evacuating from the ongoing fires, this also means there may be many people in the area who are unfamiliar with the roads.
Strecker tells us "We see the massive amounts of people coming up here, the biggest thing we talked about was making sure what people bring with them is a lot of patience."
He adds if you have patience you can get anywhere you need to be "Drive slow, take your time, there's animals on the roadways and there's a lot of people that evacuated from South Lake or the Dixie fire."
Strecker mentions CHP has about 80% of their police staff on hand out on the road to keep people as safe as possible, specifically to address impaired driving.
He says "For the highway patrol right now this is what we call our maximum enforcement period." He adds "Right now I have all my available officers working right now, so anyone who can be working or is not out of town somewhere or out of state they're working right now."
CHP is also in tactical enforcement mode for the Caldor and Dixie Fire, helping in any way they can.
Strecker tells us "So we are stretched pretty thin but at the same time we have more officers on the road now than pretty much you're going to see at any point during the year."
Labor day is also one of the last summer vacation opportunities people may have.
Strecker reminds everyone "Make sure if you are going to drive and get out there somewhere, to not drink and drive. Designate a sober driver and make sure you have a plan before you go."
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