LAPD DUI/Driver’s License Checkpoints and DUI Saturation Patrols NA12184kr

What:   
Sobriety & Driver’s License Checkpoint

When:   
Friday, August 10, 2012, 8 P.M. to
Saturday, August 11, 2012, 2 A.M.

Where:  
Broadway between Daly Street and Griffin Avenue
Los Angeles, California

What:   
Sobriety & Driver’s License Checkpoint

When:   
Saturday, August 11, 2012, 8 P.M. to
Sunday, August 12, 2012, 2 A.M.

Where:  
Van Nuys Boulevard between Chase Street and Roscoe Boulevard
Panorama City, California

What:    DUI Saturation Patrol

When:  
Sunday, August 12, 2012, 12 to 8 P.M.

Where:  
77th Street 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 Karmody, 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.

MEDIA NOTES:
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.