SACRAMENTO– Memorial Day weekend is quickly approaching, and many Californians are preparing to kick off the summer with a holiday gathering or road trip. Forty-five people were killed in crashes in California during last year’s Memorial Day weekend, nearly a 30 percent increase from the same period in 2021. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has a plan to help people ...

SACRAMENTO – The celebrations and parties that may highlight St. Patrick’s Day often lead to tragedy when impaired drivers take to the roads. On Mar. 17, 2018, 1 person was killed and 48 were injured in collisions caused by driving under the influence (DUI) in California, according to CHP officials. Statewide, 131 people were involved in DUI collisions on St. ...

BASS LAKE – A family from Fresno celebrating their son’s birthday at Bass Lake were lucky to escape injury when both their cars were hit by an alleged drunk driver this evening. Just after 9:30 p.m., Thomas Ridley, 66, of Bass Lake, was westbound on Road 222 in a Subaru Impreza at what was reported by witnesses as a high ...

OAKHURST – Oakhurst Area of the California Highway Patrol will be conducting a DUI/Driver License Safety Checkpoint on Saturday, June 16, within an unincorporated area of Madera County. The CHP notes that the deterrent effect of DUI checkpoints is “a proven resource in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol or drug involved crashes. Research shows that ...

COARSEGOLD – A Coarsegold man was arrested on suspicion of DUI after running over a woman while backing out of a driveway on Corral Drive in Yosemite Lakes Park last night, according to CHP. On Thursday, May 31, at approximately 9 p.m., Jake Curtis, 23, was backing his Jeep Compass onto the main road in the 30000 block of Corral ...

MADERA COUNTY — A Coarsegold woman who crashed her car, igniting a fire that burned over six acres on Road 406 near Jewels Vista Drive yesterday, was arrested on suspicion of DUI. According to the CHP, Laura White, 51, drove her car off the north side of Road 406 just before 2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26, plowing through a ...

COARSEGOLD — Concerned citizens and dog lovers as far away as Pennsylvania have been asking about Hank the Yellow Lab, who went missing after a crash on Highway 41 yesterday afternoon. We are delighted to report that Hank has been found. Cody Lankton is a good friend of both Hank and Austin — the driver involved in the crash — ...

MADERA COUNTY — Perhaps the most often-asked question to Sierra News Online concerns accidents on Highway 41 — how many occur each year, and how many are DUI related? The California Highway Patrol in Sacramento provided us with accident statistics from Jan. 1, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2015, for the Highway 41 corridor from Highway 145 to Fish Camp. We ...