Elk Grove DUI checkpoint this weekend

The Elk Grove Police Department will be conducting a sobriety and drivers license checkpoint on December 18, 2010 at an undisclosed location within the city limits between the hours of 8:00 p.m and 3:00 a.m.  

 

Officers will be checking drivers through the checkpoint for signs of alcohol and or drug impairments.  Officers will also check for proper licensing and will strive to affect motorists only momentarily. If officers suspect that a driver has been drinking or is impaired, they will conduct a field sobriety test.  

“Over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have claimed 4 lives and resulted in 70 injury crashes harming 102 of our friends and neighbors,” Elk Grove Police Chief Robert Lehner said.   

 

Statewide, overall traffic deaths 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,” Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) said.  “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 sobriety checkpoints are provided to the Elk Grove Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver.