California increases sobriety checkpoints to reduce drunk driving

Dec. 18, 2009 | By Julie Small | KPCC
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San Francisco police officers check drivers at a sobriety checkpoint December 26, 2004 in San Francisco, California. Authorities are ramping up their efforts this year to combat drunk driving.

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Declaring the year 2010 as "The Year of the Checkpoint," California’s Office of Traffic Safety, the California Highway Patrol, and other law enforcement agencies plan to host 250 checkpoints between now and New Year’s Day. It’s all part of an effort to reduce the number of alcohol-related traffic accidents in the state.

At a sobriety checkpoint in a high-risk corridor of South Sacramento, California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Johnson waves most of the drivers through. But he stops about every third one to ask, "Have anything to drink tonight?"

Most of the drivers California Highway Patrol Officer Johnson stops are clean and sober, but he uses the opportunity to remind them to stay that way — at least behind the wheel.

"The main thing is to be safe and have a happy holiday!" Johnson tells them.

Last year traffic crashes involving drunk drivers killed 1,029 people in California and seriously injured more than 28,000 others.

The California Office of Traffic Safety will fund more than 2,500 sobriety checkpoints in 2010, a 47 percent increase over the 1,700 conducted this year, more than 250 of which will take place between Dec. 18 and Jan. 3 as part of the December DUI Crackdown enforcement campaign.

"To my knowledge, California conducts more checkpoints than any other state," said California Office of Traffic Safety Director Christopher J. Murphy. "DUI checkpoints are time-tested and proven as the most effective DUI countermeasure and I'm gratified that we're seeing the life-saving results."

Since the California Office of Traffic Safety and law enforcement began placing increased emphasis and funding toward sobriety checkpoints in 2006, alcohol-related deaths have declined in California.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System, DUI deaths declined in California by 9.1 percent between 2007 and 2008, marking a total decrease of nearly 21 percent from the most recent high point in 2005.

In addition, statewide DUI arrests in 2008 were 214,811 - the highest since 1993.

"The California Highway Patrol will join more than 400 local agencies across the state over the next two weeks and throughout next year, taking part in sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols and multi agency task force operations to get drunk drivers off the roads," said California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow. "The public can help by, first and foremost, planning ahead before you celebrate and designating a non-drinking driver. If you see a drunk driver, call 911."

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