Crime & Safety

Sobriety Checkpoint Set for Sunday

Locations of checkpoints are not announced in advance because it helps encourage drivers to stay sober and not circumvent the checkpoint area.

The  plans to conduct a sobriety and driver’s license checkpoint Sunday, but as usual, no location or specific hours of operation will be announced ahead of time.

The checkpoint is funded through the California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The goal is to reduce the number of victims killed and injured in alcohol-involved crashes, the department said.

Locations of checkpoints are not announced in advance because it helps encourage drivers to stay sober and not circumvent the checkpoint area.

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Novato police Sgt. Oliver Collins said DUI collisions have claimed one life and resulted in 37 injury crashes harming 42 people in the past three years. He said research proves a 20 percent reduction in crashes involving alcohol if they are publicized well and conducted often.

At the most recent checkpoint in Novato, set up on Ignacio Boulevard at Palmer Drive, officers screened 997 vehicles on June 22 and made one DUI arrest. Thirty-two drivers were given field sobriety tests and two were cited for moving violations. Six vehicles were towed.

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In addition, four drivers were found to have suspended licenses and 11 were found to be unlicensed drivers.

The July 1 sobriety and drivers license checkpoint will be staffed by personnel trained in the detection of alcohol and/or drug impaired drivers, according to a police department press release.  The officers will be equipped with state-of-the-art hand-held breath-testing devices that provide measure of blood-alcohol concentrations of suspected drunk drivers.  All drivers will be asked to produce a valid driver’s license as they pass through the checkpoint.

Drivers caught driving impaired can expect jail time, license suspension and insurance premium increases as well as fines, fees, required DUI classes other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

The state Office of Traffic Safety, California Highway Patrol and local law enforcement are advocating safe driving and designated sober drivers. Research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough.

If anyone suspects a drunk driver on the road, that person is urged to call 911 to help law enforcement identify drunk drivers before they injury themselves or others.

“Deaths from drunk and drug-impaired driving are going down in California,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. “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.

 


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