SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – With the countdown to the start of the new year underway, some are pleading with people to think before they drink and drive this holiday.
“We don't want to impede anybody from celebrating on New Year’s,” San Diego Councilmember Raul Campillo said. “But you have to remember that lives are at risk if you've had anything to drink and you decide to drive.”
Campillo knows personally the pain drinking and driving can bring.
Two years ago, he, his wife and then 8-week-old son were hit by a drunk driver a few days before Christmas.
“To this day, when we hear a loud car coming up by the side of us on the freeway, you know, we tense up a little bit, and it just brings back those memories,” Campillo said. “The biggest memory of all was the sound of what sounded like an explosion and then hearing our son just screaming in the back seat.”
UC Berkeley’s crash database, which compiles state crash data, shows that as of September 2025, there have been nearly 4,300 crashes in San Diego, with a little more than 4 percent involving alcohol or drugs. That’s a slight increase from last year and the year before that.
“I want everyone to know, from 6:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. on New Year's Eve into New Year's Day, you can take an MTS bus, you can take the trolley for free. Please call a rideshare. Please ask a friend who's a designated driver to not drink and drive,” Campillo said.
But drinking and driving doesn’t just happen during the holidays.
It can happen any time someone has one too many.
Campillo told ABC 10News that using public safety funds to have things like DUI checkpoints can help prevent those drivers from getting on heavily traveled roads.
“We get grants from the state so that it's state dollars instead of local tax dollars to be able to put those on. But fundamentally, we need people in the community to step up and be that good friend, a good family member who takes the keys away,” Campillo said. “You know, government can't solve every issue. We can educate people, we can encourage people, we can incentivize people, but ultimately, self-responsibility is where it starts.”
