• Posted on Monday, April 13, 2009
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Girls gone wild: California reports spike in women DUIs

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Call it the "Sex and the City" syndrome. California is seeing a surge in young women cited for driving drunk.

Guys are still kings of drinking and driving. But DUI arrests are up more than 100 percent this decade among women ages 21 to 24, the most of any age group, according to an analysis by AAA researcher Steve Bloch.

Speaking last week at a state Office of Traffic Safety conference, Bloch tweaked trend-setting Hollywood for being the seeming epicenter.

We've entered the Falling Hollywood Celebrity era, he says.

Among the young and the restless: Lindsay Lohan (twice), Paris Hilton (it was just one margarita!), Nicole Richie (wielding a black Mercedes) and Khloe Kardashian ("She's a superstar," her attorney said, apropos of nothing).

"There seems to be a competition in Hollywood to be the first to be arrested for DUI," Bloch joked.

But the trend is worrisome, he said. We need to know what's behind it.

Read the complete story at sacbee.com

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