The Jackson County Sheriff's Office stepped up DUII patrols over the holiday

JACKSON COUNTY, Ore. – According to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, one third of alcohol related crashes happen between Christmas time and New Years.

Deputy Cody Ponder said there are certain driving mistakes he looks for before stopping a driver.

“Failure to drive within their lane, failing to stop for stop signs, making wide turns when either turning left or right, and also failure to stop when entering roadways form businesses or driveways,” Ponder said.

After officers stop a driver, if they believe the person is impaired, they ask them to take a test. That test is broken down into three parts.

“The first thing is the horizontal gaze test which is where we are looking at their eyes for involuntary jerking,” Ponder said. ” We then go into the walk and turn test and the one leg stand test.”

Deputy Ponder said there were 885 alcohol impaired crashes in 2017 in the nation, he’s hoping saturation like this will decrease that number.