LAPD Announce DUI/Driver’s License Checkpoint

What:
Sobriety & Drivers License Checkpoint

When:
Friday, July 15, 2011, 8 p.m. to
Saturday, July 16, 2011, 2 a.m.

Where:
Florence Avenue between Main and Broadway Streets
Los Angeles, California

Who:
Emergency Operations Division

Why:
Sobriety checkpoints are a proven enforcement tool effective in reducing the number of people killed and injured in alcohol related crashes. In addition, checkpoints are a valuable way to increase awareness of the dangers of impaired driving.

Officers will be checking drivers through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and or drug impairments.  They will also check for proper licensing while aiming to impact motorists only momentarily.  If officers suspect that a driver has been drinking or is impaired, they will conduct a field sobriety test.  Should a driver fail, they should expect jail, vehicle storage fees, license suspension, insurance rate increases, along with fines, fees, driving under the influence classes, and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

Statewide, overall traffic deaths deceased by 23 percent, from 3,995 in 2007 to 3,081 in 2009.  Total traffic deaths are at their lowest levels in six decades, when the federal government began collecting figures.  Driving under the influence deaths declined by 16 percent, from 1,132 in 2007 to 950 in 2009, according to federal statistics.  Alcohol impaired deaths still make up the largest number of overall vehicle fatalities in 2009, with 31 percent of all deaths caused by a drunk or impaired driver.

“Everyone in California should be heartened with these figures,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).  “But as encouraging as this is, we can’t let up on the efforts to encourage and support traffic safety.  You can help make your community safe; if you see a Drunk Driver – Call 9-1-1.”

Funding for this and other DUI checkpoints 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 continue to ignore the message to designate a sober driver.  For further information, please contact Officer Don Inman, Emergency Operations Division, at 213-486-0703.