The Signal Hill Police Department (SHPD) Traffic Unit will conduct a DUI/driver’s license checkpoint on Thursday, March 17 at Cherry Avenue and 27th Street between the hours of 7:30pm and 4am. DUI checkpoints are a proven enforcement tool effective in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol-involved crashes, as well as being a valuable means for heightening awareness of the dangers of impaired driving.
Officers will be checking drivers through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and or drug impairments. Officers will check for proper licensing and will strive to impact motorists only momentarily. If officers suspect that a driver has been drinking or is impaired, they will conduct a field sobriety test. Those who fail should expect jail, vehicle storage fees, license suspension and insurance rate increases, along with fines, fees, DUI classes and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.
Statewide, overall traffic deaths have declined by 23 percent, from 3,995 in 2007 to 3,081 in 2009. Total traffic fatalities are at their lowest levels in six decades, when the federal government began compiling figures. DUI 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 category 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 are provided to the SHPD by a grant from the California OTS, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver.
