RISE IN DUI ARRESTS PERPLEXES DEPUTIES.

Byline: Laurence Darmiento Daily News Staff Writer

A surprising jump in drunk driving arrests and accidents this year in Santa Clarita has left sheriff's deputies wondering whether they're doing a better job - or there simply are more drunks on the road.

The number of alcohol-related accidents increased a startling 48 percent in the first seven months of the year, with 40 reported compared to 27 during the same period in 1995, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department statistics.

At the same time the statistics show drunk driving arrests climbed almost as much by a hefty 43 percent, with 305 from January through July, compared to 245 arrests for the same period last year.

``I don't think its solely more drinking and driving, but it's really hard to say what it is,'' said Deputy Mark Slater, a Santa Clarita Valley sheriff's station traffic investigator.

Drunk driving arrests and accidents have been dropping for several years both statewide and locally. Indeed last year, alcohol-related accidents fell by almost 20 percent in the city, while arrests for drunk driving also were off.

Slater said the sharp hike in drunk driving arrests this year was not completely unexpected. It is the corresponding jump in accidents that is hard to explain.

Last year, the station's traffic detail finally received its own trailer and other equipment for conducting sobriety checkpoints. That has allowed the detail to conduct monthly checkpoints, something it was not able to do in the first half of last year.

``We arrested nine motorists at our last checkpoint last week,'' Slater said. ``We are probably catching more drunk drivers.''

At the same time, more station deputies have taken the department's four-day seminar on detecting alcohol- and drug-impaired drivers, he said.

That presumably would lead to more arrests.

It also could possibly help explain the perplexing hike in drunk driving accidents, despite an overall drop in the number of accidents in the first half of the year, he said.

``We may be doing better in the gray areas, drivers near the 0.08 legal limit. In the past deputies maybe marked ``had been drinking'' but weren't making the arrests,'' he said.

In order for an accident to be classified as alcohol related an arrest must be made, he said.

Among the more serious drunk-driving related accidents in the first half of this year was a May 11 crash on Bouquet Canyon Road in which a drunk driver crossed into oncoming traffic and critically injured a motorist.

One month later, a Canyon Country man was accused of drunk driving in a crash on Sand Canyon Road that left eight people injured. There also was a fatal accident on that same roadway earlier this month in which a driver was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

The sheriff's department provides law enforcement for the entire Santa Clarita Valley, but only patrols roadways within the city limits. The California Highway Patrol enforces traffic laws on unincorporated valley roadways.

In the first seven months of the year, the local office of the highway patrol also reported a jump in drunk driving related accidents, but one of less than 8 percent. At the same time the CHP made about 3 percent fewer drunk driving arrests, said Officer Wendy Moore.

The statistics also include accidents and arrests made on area freeways patrolled by the CHP's Newhall office.