According to numbers sent out from the Harris County DA's Office, a total of 245 motorists were charged with drunk driving during the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
That includes 182 people charged for the first time with Driving While Intoxicated and eight people for driving while drunk with a child passenger (a felony).
The most serious incident involved a man charged with Intoxication Assault for speeding through a red light on Westheimer at approximately 80 mph and smashing into a vehicle carrying a woman headed home from work.
She and the drunk driver who hit her remain hospitalized.
"Our roadways remain the most dangerous in the country," said Harris County District Attorney's Office Vehicular Crimes Chief Sean Teare. "We were out in force this weekend and literally took hundreds of drunks off the roads, but there is a long way to go."
The number of arrests compares to 222 last year and 223 the year before that.
Among the agencies participating in a beefed up law-enforcement initiative known as No Refusal Weekend, were Harris County Precinct 1 Constable's Office, the Houston Police Dept. and the Harris County Sheriff's Office.
Among the drunken drivers arrested was a woman who drove into a ditch and claimed to have had just one glass of wine at a club. Her speech was slurred, her walk unsteady, and she failed a field sobriety test, according to officers.
Another defendant, who was swerving on the roadway, admitted he'd had six beers before getting behind the wheel and had gotten lost on his way home.
Another said he'd drank whiskey at a friend's BBQ. The cup in the center console smelled of alcohol. And another, was weaving through an apartment complex parking lot. He had ten empty cans of beer on the floorboard.
"This is such a selfish crime, because every time you do this, you are putting everyone, including yourself at risk of death," Teare said. "With the options available today, there is no reason to get behind the wheel while intoxicated."
