If you plan to make merry this holiday season by hoisting a few, be forewarned:  Fullerton police are determined to make sure you do not ruin the holidays for others by causing a traffic accident.

The police will conduct a sobriety checkpoint Saturday, Dec., 19, to watch for intoxicated drivers.  The checkpoint which will be held from 8 p.m.-2 a.m.  The location is not being announced, but will be on a major thoroughfare. 

Motorists passing through the Fullerton checkpoint will also receive safe driving literature donated by Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD).

The Fullerton checkpoint will be the first of 300 DUI checkpoints planned by law enforcement agencies throughout the state as part of an 18-day “Holiday DUI Crackdown Campaign” funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

According to Office of Traffic Safety statistics, in 2008, 11,773 people died across the nation in highway crashes involving a driver or motorcycle rider with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 or higher.  In California 1,029 were killed on state and local roads driving with a .08 BAC or higher with another 28,457 injured in alcohol-involved collisions.

Fullerton’s officers “will be adopting a zero tolerance approach to DUI cases,” said Sgt. Tak Kim, who is coordinating the event for the Police Department.  “If you’re over the legal limit, you’re going to jail.”

Kim said the intent of the program “is not to spoil the holidays for anyone.  Rather, our single goal is to try to make sure everyone has a great holiday by keeping intoxicated motorists off the streets where they can’t hurt themselves or innocent bystanders.”

The statewide Holiday DUI Crackdown Campaign will run Dec. 19 through Jan. 3.