LAPD Announce Sobriety/Driver’s License Checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols NA11270rh

What:
Sobriety & Driver’s License Checkpoint

When:
Friday, December 9, 2011
8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Where:
Hollywood Boulevard between Gower Street and Bronson Avenue
Los Angeles, California

What:
Sobriety & Driver’s License Checkpoint

When:
Saturday, December 10, 2011
8 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Where:
Ventura Boulevard between Noble Avenue and Bronson Avenue
Sherman Oaks, California

What:
DUI Saturation Patrol

When:
Sunday, December 11, 2011
12 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where:
Northeast Area

Who:
Emergency Operations Division

Why:
Sobriety checkpoints are a proven enforcement tool effective in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol involved crashes. Research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough.

Officers will be contacting drivers passing through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and/or drug impairment.  Officers will also check for proper licensing and will strive to delay motorists only momentarily. Drivers caught driving impaired can expect jail, license suspension, and insurance increases, as well as fines, fees, DUI classes, other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

“Over the course of the past two years, DUI collisions have claimed approximately 30 lives and resulted in over 2,000 injury traffic collisions harming our friends and neighbors,” said Sergeant Sean Karmody of Traffic Coordination Section.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), checkpoints have provided the most effective documented results of any of the DUI enforcement strategies, while also yielding considerable cost savings of $6 for every $1 spent.  Checkpoints are placed in locations that have the greatest opportunity for achieving drunk and drugged driving deterrence and provide the greatest safety for officers and the public.

“Deaths from drunk and drug-impaired driving are going down in California,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).  “But that still means that hundreds of our friends, family and co-workers are killed each year, along with tens of thousands who are seriously injured. We must all continue to work together to bring an end to these tragedies.  If you see a Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1.”

Funding for the checkpoint and DUI saturation patrols is provided to the Los Angeles Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver.

Contact:
To schedule an interview regarding the Los Angeles Police Department sobriety checkpoints and DUI saturation patrols, please contact Officer Don Inman at 213-486-0703.  To schedule an interview regarding impaired driving efforts and programs in California please contact Chris Cochran, California Office of Traffic Safety at 916-509-3063 or via email at chris.cochran@ots.ca.gov.