Large squads of agents from Jalisco’s Traffic Department (Secretaria de Movilidad or SeMov) swooped down on the lakeshore area on Sunday, August 6 for twin operations to trap drunk drivers.
According to SeMov’s press office, breathalyzer tests were applied at random to 798 drivers at checkpoints set up simultaneously at the east end of La Floresta and on the Chapala-Guadalajara highway at Ixtlahuacán de los Membrillos.
The agency reports that officers snared 23 individuals who reportedly tested above the legal limit of 0.41 milligrams of alcohol per liter of exhaled air, a violation under Jalisco traffic laws meriting administrative arrest of the motorists, confiscation of their vehicles and steep fines. An additional 16 drivers were ticketed for minor infractions.
Jalisco launched the Salvando Vidas (Saving Lives) program in 2013 with the aim of reducing accidents and highway deaths related to alcohol consumption. The implementation of breathalyzer checkpoints was tied into legislative reforms establishing strict sanctions for DUI violations.
Salvando Vida blockades, managed primarily by female officers, routinely pop up on major thoroughfares in the Guadalajara metro area. Traps have also been set up periodically outside the city limits along highways connected to prime tourist destinations.
The lakeshore region was first targeted in July 2014 when a checkpoint was installed on the outskirts of the south shore town of Tuxcueca, located on the main travel route to Mazamitla. Similar operations have been carried out from time to time in the vicinity of Ixtlahuacan to nab intoxicated drivers heading home from indulgent leisure time at lakeside.
In fact, late last month SeMov issued an advisory indicating that Salvando Vidas modules would be installed on roadways leading to Tequila, Jocotepec, Chapala, Saltillo and other points on the map where accidents are most common. The operations are to continue on a permanent basis, rotating to different locations on weekends.
In the aftermath, Chapala Mayor Javier Degollado has openly expressed annoyance that the Sunday stings were carried out in his neighborhood during the busy summer vacation season. He complained that the program was poorly handled with insufficient personnel to direct the flow of traffic and prevent added congestion to peak hours when weekend visitors return to Guadalajara.
While acknowledging that the principle of keeping drunk drivers off the road is a good cause, a defiant Degollado pledged to push back against SeMov’s top brass to keep Salvando Vidas ops from scaring off tourism.
Noting that he was bombarded with citizen complaints, the mayor is likewise miffed that city hall wasn’t warned in advance so that backup assistance and other measures might have been put in motion. But he’s not alone. SeMov’s lakeside commandant Jesús Morán says he didn’t get a heads-up either.
First-hand account
A long-time expat resident who was apprehended in La Floresta while on the way home from a social engagement provided a lengthy account of the harrowing experience on Facebook post that went viral, raising the hackles of many other foreigners. Filling in additional details by interview with this newspaper, the poster revealed that at least three other foreigners were also picked up at the same trap.
The interview subject complains of being roughed up by officers in the process of being yanked out of the car, hauled to the table where the breathalyzer exam was applied, and forcefully handcuffed after testing positive for an excessive alcohol level. The individual’s keys, cell phone and other personal belongings were confiscated along with the vehicle.
Around midnight, the persons who were put under administrative arrest were loaded into two vans for transport to the Centro Urbano de Retención Vial por Alcoholimetría (CURVA) detention center in Zapopan. The source of the account was freed on a medical release around 6 a.m. the following morning.
The car was finally released several days later following completion of complex red tape procedures and payment of 3,200 pesos in fees for towing and impoundment. The driver got off without payment of a personal fine.
The tale has brought up responses from knowledgeable expats who point out that Jalisco laws and tactics for getting drunk drivers off the road are similar and no more stringent than those employed in most parts of Canada and the United States.