LAPD Announces DUI/Driver’s License Checkpoints

What:
Sobriety & Drivers License Checkpoint

When:
Friday, November 11, 2011, 8 p.m. to
Saturday, November 12, 2011, 2 a.m.

Where:
Manchester Avenue between Broadway and Figueroa Street
Los Angeles, California

When:
Saturday, November 12, 2011, 8 p.m. to
Sunday, November 13, 2011, 2 a.m.

Where:
Ventura Boulevard between Noble Avenue and the 405 Freeway
Sherman Oaks, California

Who:
Emergency Operations Division

Why:
DUI 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, and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

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

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.

Christopher J. Murphy, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTC) said, “Deaths from drunk and drug-impaired driving are going down in California, but that still means that hundreds of our friends, family and coworkers 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 this checkpoint is provided to the LAPD by a grant from the OTS, through the NHTSA, targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver.

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