The Santa Monica Police Department will be conducting a sobriety (DUI) checkpoint on Friday evening, December 18, 2009, somewhere in the 300 block of Pico Boulevard in the City of Santa Monica.
Officers from the Santa Monica Police Department will be contacting drivers in the City of Santa Monica to confirm their sobriety and will also examine driver’s licenses to make sure they are valid and legal. This is one of several checkpoints to be conducted over the next year.
One such previous checkpoint was conducted Friday, November 20 on Lincoln Boulevard, between Lincoln Boulevard and Michigan Avenue. During that evening, 1,667 vehicles entered the checkpoint, 364 vehicles were checked, six vehicles were impounded for unlicensed or suspended driver’s licenses, and six misdemeanor citations of various kinds were issued, two were citations for possession of marijuana and four were traffic related citations. Throughout this previous enforcement, there were no DUI citations given.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
In a statement, the police department reminded Santa Monicans who plan to drink, to have a designated driver or call a taxi cab to take you safely home. It is also the way to avoid being sited at this checkpoint.
Since 2005, the number of alcohol-involved fatalities has dropped, thanks to efforts like this, the statement said, but law enforcement and the public must continue to work toward zero deaths.
“Law enforcement officers are doing more to remove drunk drivers from California’s streets and highways thanks to our DUI traffic safety funding,” said Christopher J. Murphy, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety, in the statement. “But everyone can help make their communities safer. If you see a Drunk Driver, call 911.”
For more information, please contact Sergeant Larry Horn with the Santa Monica Police Department’s Traffic Division at 310-458-8950, or, the department’s Public Information Officer, Sergeant Jay Trisler at 310-458-8471.
