STOCKTON – Stockton police this evening will be conducting a checkpoint somewhere in the city to catch drunken drivers and those driving without a license.
The checkpoint will be 6 p.m. today to 2 a.m. Saturday, according to a Stockton Police Department statement. The location was not disclosed.
“DUI checkpoints are a proven enforcement tool effective in reducing the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol involved crashes,” read a portion of the statement. “Research shows that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when well-publicized checkpoints are conducted often enough.”
Traffic officers will be contacting drivers passing through the checkpoint looking for signs of alcohol or drug impairment, and checking for proper licensing. Motorists driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol can expect jail, license suspension, insurance increases, fines, fees, DUI classes, and other expenses that can exceed $10,000.
“Over the course of the past three years, DUI collisions have claimed 27 lives and resulted in 292 injury crashes harming 410 of our friends and neighbors,” said Stockton police Sgt. Lance Baur.
Besides providing the most effective results of any drunken driving enforcement strategies, checkpoints also result in cost savings of $6 for every $1 spent, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Deaths from drunk and drug-impaired driving are going down in California,” said Christopher J. Murphy, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. “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 drunken driver, call 911.”
Funding for this checkpoint is provided to the Stockton Police Department by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
