For Angela Courtney, walking has become an exercise…in survival, “I’m concerned for me and a lot of other people, especially my mother and father, because we walk everywhere."

She and her parents frequently hoof it around three very perilous places on or near a small stretch of Rundberg Lane. According to Austin police, the spots rank first, second, and third for the most drunk driving crashes in Austin.

I caught up with Courtney and family at the worst of the addresses, a shopping center just north of Rundberg at 9515 North Lamar, where police say there have been 9 alcohol related wrecks since the beginning of last year. At this strip mall, crashed cars outside have become almost as much a staple as the fresh tortillas inside La Parilla restaurant, which is one of the tenants here.

“It’s just accidents all the time,” explains Ray Uribe, who helps run the eatery. He points out that one trashed driver recently ended up in a fitting place, “She crashed into the brick wall where they have the dumpster.”

The damage is still there for all to see. Uribe complains what he’s not seeing is enough police presence, until it’s too late, “When the accident’s over.”

But that is now changing. Recently, as KEYE started looking at the numbers, APD did the same.

“It lets us know we need to focus our enforcement on these areas,” notes Lieutenant Randy Pogue of APD's DWI Enforcement Unit.

Officers recently saturated these trouble spots looking for saturated drivers. In the less than a mile long DWI alley that contains three of the top DWI wreck spots, police arrested 9 people Friday night alone. That’s as many drunk driving arrests as they make across the entire city on some Friday evenings. And officers are warning liquored up motorists that they’ll be sticking around these parts like a bad hangover, “We will all be working to reduce the accidents in these locations.” For those who have genuinely feared for their safety for so long now, walkers like Angela, and workers like Ray, the notion of regular DWI crackdowns here is almost intoxicating.

Here are the top trouble spots according to the Austin Police Department:

	TOP DWI arrest Locations as of 11/4/2009
rank 08-09	Location	combined
1	100 S 1st	134
2	1100 6th W	77
3	1500 Cesar Chavez W	69
4	90 Guadalupe	63
5	1600 Riverside E	58
	DWI Collision Locations
	(collision report locations with a DWI)
rank 08-09	Location	combined
1	9515 Lamar N	9
2	Lamar & Rundberg	8
2	I 35 SB Svc Rd & Riverside	8
2	Congress & Oltorf	8
3	I 35 NB Svc Rd & Rundberg	7
4	I 35 SB Svc Rd & 7th	6