Possibly still crestfallen over the Niners' NFC loss, 22-year-old rookie defensive end Aldon Smith was arrested on DUI charges Saturday morning in Miami. According to the Sacramento Bee, the wasted 49er was swerving in and out of lanes causing other drivers to brake to avoid hitting Smith's red Mercedez. more ›

Juan Martinez, the 23-year-old accused of fleeing the scene after his car allegedly hopped a curb and fatally struck a pedestrian on Cesar Chavez, admitted to police that he drank "13 or 14" beers before getting behind the wheel on Christmas Eve morning. more ›

Billed "Avoid the 8" by SFPD, police will check for lushes behind the wheel this New Year's Eve at 8th and Folsom Streets. It will begin at 8:30 p.m. and end around 3 a.m. "All of the police departments that serve this great city have banded together against the death, injury, expense and family harm that drunk or drugged drivers so often cause. We could not be more serious about getting these dangerous people off the road and making San Francisco safer," said traffic Capt. Al Casciato of the San Francisco Police Dept. more ›

Heading in to a 3-day holiday weekend with a strong chance of drinking and driving, SFPD has announced the location of their DUI checkpoint this weekend. Starting at 8:30 p.m. Saturday night, September 3rd SFPD will be checking drivers' sobriety levels at 14th and Mission. According to SFAppeal, this is the last of SFPD's summer checkpoints and they've gotten 123 arrests since August 19th. We shouldn't need to remind you that, should you be out partaking in the sauce, plan on sober transportation home. more ›

Drunk drivers. They're the scum on the Earth, right? Right. Well, what about if you're a drunk driver who gets in a car with your daughter and then crashes into a fire house? You make for a good news story, that's what. Lasheena Cardona, 36, was behind the wheel of a big ol' GMC Yukon on Monday night "when it slammed into the front of station No. 27 at 1801 DeAnza Blvd." more ›

Gee, this is harrowing. Two fools who crashed into each other over the weekend were allegedly both drunk while riding their preferred modes. "Jose Luna, 40, of Redwood City was turning from northbound El Camino Real onto Berkshire Avenue in his Ford F-150 pickup truck when he struck bicyclist Alejandro Chavez, 31, of Redwood City at about 11 p.m. Saturday," reports SFGate. "Chavez, who had been riding against traffic while pedaling in a northbound lane, suffered a broken back and leg." Both were reportedly smashed, if you will, at the time of impact. Oy. [SFGate] more ›

A hit-and-run incident claimed the life of a 55-year-old man at Masonic and Turk last night. The Chronicle reports: "The series of crashes began at about 2:30 a.m. when the suspect, Jose Jimenez, 23, of San Francisco, ran down a 55-year-old man crossing Masonic Avenue at Turk Boulevard." Jimenez was allegedly drunk at the time of the crash. This is the second time in less than a year that a car accident claimed a life at the notorious intersection. Last August, German tourist Nils Linke, 21, was killed at Masonic and Turk by a hit-and-run incident. more ›

Starting at 6:30 p.m. and extending throughout the evening the SFPD will be doing a sobriety checkpoint at an undisclosed location to look out for drivers who partook too much of the Jameson's and green beer. We're guessing SoMa, near a bridge approach, but the strategy has also got to include an area where cars can easily bolt in another direction when they see a sobriety checkpoint up ahead. Any other guesses? more ›

And today on our favorite beat, namely the Drunks Behaving Badly beat, we find one obviously [read: allegedly] drunk dude who drove his car into McLaren Park around 2:20 a.m. this morning, shortly after last call. As Mike Aldax the Ex reports, cops found the car stuck “half off the road and in the air” near the pond by the playground. The driver then proceeded to fail all field sobriety tests. more ›

Beginning at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday at Potrero Avenue and 23rd Street, a sobriety checkpoint will be enforced, running until Sunday morning. You've been warned. [SF Appeal] more ›

A drunk-driving crash that took the life of San Mateo 19-year-old Brett Studebaker may lead to a statewide crackdown on underage drinking aboard party buses. Studebaker was killed while trying to drive home after attending the 21st birthday party of a friend back in February; his blood alcohol level was 0.23, three times the legal limit. more ›

Well, it looks like we spoke too soon. Just when we thought our faith had been restored in humanity's ability to resist getting plastered and speeding home in their death monsters, a bunch of people had to go and do just that to prove us wrong. more ›

Way to go, Bay Area! According to early CHP data, the number of drunk drivers arrested at the start of the holiday weekend is fewer than last year's numbers, although barely. Bay City News reports that between the 12 CHP stations in the Bay Area, 45 intoxicated drivers were arrested in the 12 hour period between Wednesday evening and Thanksgiving morning. more ›

Two unrelated people were killed late Saturday night after being struck by multiple cars, causing all but two lanes of 101 to remain closed most of the day on Sunday. An allegedly intoxicated woman, who had been driving northbound in the southbound lanes of 101 in San Mateo at 3 a.m. Sunday morning, pulled over near the East Poplar Avenue exit and got out of her car. A male driver saw her and stopped to help her (perhaps she was stumbling around), and the two were struck by a limousine and thrown into the northbound lanes where they were struck by several more cars. According to the CHP, the extent of the crash site spanned 3,000 feet. [Chron] more ›

SF Appeal reports that a sobriety checkpoint will go up in San Francisco this weekend. "The SFPD, along with the California Highway Patrol, U.S. Park Police and members of the San Francisco Community College District Police, will be holding a sobriety checkpoint this Saturday, August 7 from 8:15 a.m. to 3 a.m. on Sunday." Where will it be, exactly? We have no idea. Just make sure to call a cab if you get smashed over the weekend. more ›

Artist Thomas Kinkade arrested for DUI. more ›

Puck (nee David Rainey), MTV Real World: San Francisco's grubby bike messenger, is "hospitalized in San Diego following a terrifying car wreck that left the reality star and his 8-year-old son seriously injured," reports TMZ. While driving along Route 79 during a father-son trip on Friday, Puck swerved to avoid hitting a deer and ended up rolling down an embankment, landing upside down in a creek. TMZ goes on to say: "The two were transported to nearby hospitals where doctors discovered Puck had broken bones in both feet, his right hand, his neck ... and fractured his sternum and clavicle." Puck, if you recall, did not get along with his roommates, shoved his fingers in Pedro's peanut butter, and introduced the world to "snot rockets." more ›

Doing something pretty much all of our friends whose hippie parents did to them back in the day, a Marin couple was arrested for allowing a 13-year-old boy to drive them home in order to avoid another DUI. more ›

Driving while drunk is a crime that should, arguably, in a perfect world, be punishable by public beheading. In addition to taking the life of an innocent driver and the lives of many, you ruin a perfectly good automobile and cause even more cumbersome gridlock. And that's not right. Take, for example, Edward Schaefer, a 43-year-old Novato man, who made headlines this week after striking and killing a 9-year-old girl on his motorcycle. After researching "decades' worth of public records," NBC Bay Area uncovered Schaefer's checkered driving record. Check it out: "1990, Marin County - DUI, 6 months in jail, 3 years probation, license suspended 4 years; 1990, Marin County - DUI, 44 days in jail, 3 years probation; 1991, Marin County - DUI, 26 days in jail; 1995, Marin County - DUI, 4 months in jail, 2 years probation, license suspended 3 years, $2,000 fine, ignition device 1 year; 1999, Sonoma County - Alcohol-related Reckless Driving, 30 days in jail. 2 years probation; and 2004, Nevada - DUI." What's more, NBC goes on to report that "Schaefer faced the same Marin County judge in his first four cases." And no one noticed a pattern?! Jesus. Anyway, Schaefer is due back in court on June 19. more ›

What with St. Patrick's Day synonymous with binge drinking, the number of drunk drivers on the road increases. Obviously. So, instead of trying to weave home after your ninth round at your favorite local pub, why not catch a cab home paid for Berg Injury Lawyers. See, their the Safe and Sober Free Ride Home for St. Patrick’s Day program will give residents in Alameda, Oakland, SF and Berkeley rides home for free. more ›

A paltry 30 -- 30! -- people were arrested in San Francisco for public intoxication on New Year's Eve around Broadway, Market Street and the Embarcadero. (Needless to say, we're sad to see that number isn't higher. Did any of you even go out that night? The economy can't be that bad, can it? Live a little. Sheesh.) The California Highway Patrol, however, reports 84 drivers were pinched in the Bay Area for suspicion of driving under the influence of booze and/or drugs from 6 p.m. Wednesday through 6 a.m. Thursday. Last year only 41 people were arrested from driving while tipsy. more ›

Congratulations, Oakland (29th), Fremont (32nd), and San Francisco (34th) -- you made it on the top 50 drunkest cities in the U.S. list. At least, according to the December issue of the body dysmorphia-inducing rag Men's Health Magazine. The rankings are based on alcohol-related liver deaths, "binge drinking data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention," FBI-culled drunk driving arrest numbers, death-related auto accidents that involved booze, and "grades given to cities... more ›

During the wee hours of the morning, a woman sporting a French maid outfit was arrested for going the wrong way down the northbound lanes on (the) 280 in San Francisco. She caused (only) three collisions before she was finally nabbed by the cops. more ›

101, the highway of doom! There was a drunk driving death near Willow Road Wednesday morning, along with all those random shootings the day before. The cops, for what it's worth, say none of those random shootings are connected -- but still: we'll take 280 this week, thanks. more ›

Eager to remind all the kids out there that drunk driving is a whole lot more fun when the car is imaginary, Barrespondent Drew spends another night honking and shaking his fist at bike messengers while the other BART passengers give him funny looks. more ›

Ralph Nader may have recently swung by and accused college students of not doing enough to get actively politically, but a bunch of Stanford students seem to be rising to the challenge. Led by Walter Haas, son of well-known Bay Area philanthropist Walter Haas, the group of Stanford students are rallying for a cause SFist can easily get behind, changing the closing time of bars from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m. Haas is trying to rally a bunch of organizations to support him by claiming that letting bars serve drinks past 2 will actually save lives. more ›

A teacher at Palo Alto's Gunn High School has been suspended after letting students drink at his/her (the aide has not been named) New Year's Eve party. The cops found out about it when one of the kids drove his car into a tree (the kid was fine). The school is tut-tutting about the fact that the kid in question had just last year been in a school skit about the perils of drunk driving. That former Oakland Raider who fired shots into Siegfried and Roy's house, Cole Ford, has been found incompetent to stand trial because of his schizophrenia and will be sent to a mental hospital. Ford claims he's completely sane and says that the doctors in Nevada can't evaluate him properly because of Nevada's "gambling culture." Ford also refuses to take any medication. And Calvin Cat, a San Jose DMV instructor, has denied charges that he groped 14 teenage girls trying to get their drivers' licenses in Redwood City. He's alleged to have asked them to drive into the hills, have them attempt difficult driving manuevers, and then attack them while pretending to console them for not being able to do reverse three point turns. Parallel parking is bad enough. more ›