DUI and License Checkpoint Planned for Long Beach

A DUI Checkpoint will be conducted in Long Beach Saturday through Sunday but the police department has not said where in the 50-square-mile city the driver stop will be staged.

The Long Beach Police Department issued the following statement to the public:

The Long Beach Police Department Traffic Unit will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on Saturday September 8, 2012. The DUI checkpoint will be conducted in north Long Beach between the hours of 7:00 pm and 3:00 am. 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, other expenses that can exceed $10,000.

“Over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have claimed 13 lives and resulted in 274 injury crashes harming 388 of our friends and neighbors,” said Sergeant Aaron Alu.

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 this checkpoint is provided to Long Beach Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.