The California Highway Patrol took to the skies Sunday and Monday over Santa Cruz County in a crackdown on speeders, tailgaters and motorists who make unsafe lane changes and don't wear their seat belts.

Joining forces with motorcycle cops and patrol officers, officers in a CHP airplane participated in the operation, launched after officers investigated five fatal Santa Cruz County collisions in just five weeks.

Twenty-five drivers and motorcyclists were cited Sunday on Highway 9, none of them suspecting that two officers in a plane were watching them overhead, radioing to officers on the ground.

One of the most common violations the airborne officers spotted was motorcyclists passing illegally across the double yellow line, CHP officer Sam Courtney said. One biker was arrested after he tried to evade the CHP.

Monday, the CHP issued 129 tickets on Highway 17 and Highway 1, Courtney said. In addition, the CHP impounded five cars, and one motorist was arrested for driving with a suspended license.

Scotts Valley and Watsonville police also took part in the "special enforcement days," Courtney said.

For reasons that are not yet clear, 2003 has been a bloody year on Santa Cruz County roads.

From Jan. 1 through Monday, the CHP investigated 15 fatal crashes, compared with seven during the same period last year, Courtney said.