CHP cracks down on drivers along Highway 17

Santa Cruz CHP is cracking down on reckless drivers, particularly along Highway 17. That’s because on any given day, with its twists and turns, Highway 17 is intimidating.

“Sometimes it’s great, sometimes it’s not so great,” said long time commuter Mike McAllister.

According to Santa Cruz CHP, they’ve increased the amount of patrols to help prevent accidents on the highway that connects Santa Cruz to the Silicon Valley.

“One person is up there focusing primarily on traffic violations, speeding, distracted driving, things like that,” said Sergeant Jason Grimm with CHP.

Originally CHP had bumped up patrols during the winter when the weather was bad. But with the way the highway is and how it’s driven, it’s dangerous all year round.

So just last week, CHP changed up the hours of some patrol units to create more of an overlap, especially during the morning commute hours.

“And our overall goal is to obviously reduce the mileage death rate and keep the people of California safe,” added Grimm.

And that’s good news for many commuters who feel there’s always room to make Highway 17 safer.

“I think that’s a great idea,” added McAllister. “And they change it up too, I’ve seen motorcycles, I’ve seen cars.”