Image via Wikipedia

Our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers have learned that the Irvine Police Department conducted a sobriety checkpoint during the evening hours on Friday, December 23^rd.  The checkpoint was located on Culver Drive at Farwell in the City of Irvine. Sobriety checkpoints are held by law enforcement to raise revenue and funding for police departments, even if they are typically not very effective at apprehending drunk drivers.  The following is a summary of the activity at the checkpoint:

Vehicles Stopped: 611

Sobriety Testing Conducted: 4

DUI Arrests:  3

Other Citations: 27

Although the DUI rate has been dropping independent of police activity, The California Office of Traffic Safety credits DUI checkpoints in 2010 as partly responsible for the reduction in DUI deaths.  According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, Nationwide deaths in crashes involving drunken drivers dropped 4.9 percent in 2010, taking 10,228 lives compared with 10,759 in 2009. But they dropped 14 percent in California, a sharp decrease that continues an overall trend over a decade due to other social and economic factors.

Related articles

• Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations: Costa Mesa (ocduiblog.com)
• Orange County DUI Checkpoint Locations: Newport Beach (ocduiblog.com)
• Orange County DUI Checkpoint locations: San Juan Capistrano (ocduiblog.com)

Image via Wikipedia

On July 2^nd, 2011, the Irvine Police Department conducted a sobriety/driver’s license checkpoint between the hours of 9:00 P.M.  and 2:00 A.M.  The checkpoint took place on Culver Drive at Farwell in the City of Irvine.

The checkpoint was clearly marked and vehicles were checked on a pre-set basis to ensure objectivity.  Motorists were given an informational brochure on impaired driving.  Driver’s licenses were checked, and trained officers evaluated possibly impaired drivers.

This checkpoint was staffed by sworn officers, and professional staff from the Irvine Police Department, as well as by community volunteers from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).  If you have questions for a Newport Beach DUI Lawyer, contact me at (877) 568-2977.

Image via Wikipedia

The Irvine Police Department arrested two people on suspicion of driving under the influence and issued 10 citations during a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint Friday night at Campus Drive and Bridge Road, Lt. Henry Boggs said.

Officers stopped 545 vehicles and conducted nine sobriety tests as part of the project, which including state and federal funding and was staffed by sworn police officers, professional staff and community volunteers.

An Orange County Register article on the DUi checkpoint cited Mothers Against Drunk Driving, saying that they estimated that communities consistently using sobriety checkpoints experience as much as eight times the reduction in DUI incidents as communities that use roving patrols alone.  This statistic is cited in a 2005 webpage from MADD Orange County, with no supporting studies, statistics, or mention that Laguna Beach has severely cutting, almost eliminating, the ineffective checkpoints.

Image via Wikipedia

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers have learned that the Irvine Police Department will be holding a sobriety checkpoint tonight at the intersection of Campus Drive and Bridge Road.

That’s at the center of where UC Irvine, University Town Center, the Mesa Court apartments and thousands of young adults meet, which is precisely why cops picked the spot.

“In 2009, drivers between the ages of 21 and 24 were responsible for 34% of fatal crashes with blood alcohol content (BAC) levels of .08 or higher (the same as 2008 and up from 31% in 2007),” reads an IPD statement.  Be safe out there.

Image via Wikipedia

Our Newport Beach DUI Lawyers have been enjoying St. Patrick’s Day, but we need to warn you of a few checkpoints and saturation patrols this evening and this weekend.

First, in Irvine, The Irvine Police Department will deploy a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on Thursday, March 17, 2010 at Jamboree Road and Alton Parkway, in the City of Irvine as part of their ongoing campaign to spend state funds and utilize MADD volunteers to have DUI checkpoints in the city.  Alcohol-impaired fatalities have declined substantially in recent years – down 26 percent since 2006 when the Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and law enforcement began placing increased emphasis on funding toward sobriety checkpoints.  Driving under the influence related deaths declined by 7.6 percent in California between 2008 and 2009 alone.  However, it’s not due to checkpoints, which are money makers for the police departments.  The unfunded DUI saturation patrols are the current technology that has the highest rates of apprehending persons drunk driving.  The checkpoint will be clearly marked and vehicles will be selected to be checked on a pre-set basis to ensure objectivity.  Motorists will be greeted and given an informational brochure on impaired driving, courtesy of the political action group MADD.  Driver’s licenses will be checked, and trained officers will direct impaired drivers to a secondary check area for further evaluation.  Most motorists will experience little delay, if any at all.

In Long Beach, The Long Beach Police Department will be conducting a citywide DUI Saturation Patrol on Saturday, March 19, 2011, from 6:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m., and throughout Orange County tonight, the coordinated efforts of “Avoid the 38″, will have saturation patrols looking for people driving drunk.

If you have questions for a DUI specialist, call our Orange County DUI Lawyers at (877) 568-2977, and slainte!

While the police were spending their time on profit making Perhaps, then, it should be no surprise that DUI-related collisions that injured three people and left two dead happened instead in Garden Grove, Irvine and Costa Mesa.
A commercial truck tractor went off the residential street of Woodbury Road in Garden Grove around 11 a.m. Friday and hit several trees, a fence, concrete planters and a block wall before coming to a stop at 11052 Woodbury Road.

That’s not all the rig hit, as 36-year-old Olga Quiroz, who was standing in her yard, was struck and dragged under the truck until it came to a halt at the block wall at the back of the property.

Paramedics treated the woman at the scene before having her taken to a local hospital with lacerations, fractures and other injuries to her legs.

The truck’s driver, William Davis, 44, of Orange, was held at the scene by residents until police arrived. Uninjured, Davis was evaluated to have been driving under the influence of alcohol and was later arrested on suspicion of felony DUI.

Several heavy-duty two trucks eventually removed the damaged rig, and the street was closed for about three hours.

The truck and driver were also linked to a non-injury hit and run traffic collision that happened about 45 minutes before at Euclid Avenue and Trask Street. Surveillance video from a nearby home on Woodbury Road is helping investigators piece together the truck’s course of travel moments before the collision. Anyone with other helpful information is asked to contact police Investigator Jason Perkins at (714) 741-5823.

An Irvine police officer saw a 2004, 4-door Nissan Altima zooming at speeds in excess of 80 mph through the Alton Parkway and Harvard Avenue intersection, running a red light, around 1:30 a.m. Saturday.  The chase was on heading east on Alton, but the officer lost sight of the Altima as it continued eastbound through Culver Drive.

About 30 seconds later, another Irvine cop saw the Altima approach the Alton and East Yale intersection, lose control, strike the curb and then collide with a group of trees at the southeast corner. The driver and lone occupant of the Altima was killed instantly. The 24-year-old Garden Grove resident’s name was withheld pending notification of his family.

Around 2:15 a.m. that same morning, a patron of the Red Night Club at 4647 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach, reported that his 2004, 4-door Nissan Altima was stolen from the nightclub’s parking lot. Newport Beach and Irvine police put two and 4-door together and determined the car wrapped around the trees was the stolen Altima.

Because an Irvine officer had tried initially to pull-over a speeding vehicle that was eventually involved in a traffic collision, the California Highway Patrol is conducting the collision investigation. The Orange County Sherriff-Coroner’s Office is conducting toxicology tests on the driver. Anyone with information is asked to contact the CHP’s Santa Ana Office or the Irvine Police Department.

Finally, some time before 2:30 a.m. Sunday, a 2008 white Toyota Tundra that had earlier been involved in a non-injury accident in Santa Ana was seen heading south on Flower Street before going through a red light at the intersection with Sunflower Avenue in Costa Mesa and broadsiding a 2008 gold Toyota Carolla that was heading west on Sunflower.

The passenger in the second car, Cara Lee, 20, of Santa Ana, was killed in the collision.

The Corolla’s driver, Hao A. Nguyen, 21, of Santa Ana, was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana for treatment of minor abrasions. He was later arrested on suspicion of DUI.

The Tundra driver, Gustavo A. Vega, 22, of Costa Mesa, was treated for minor abrasions at the scene and arrested on suspicion of murder, vehicular manslaughter, felony DUI, felony injury hit-and-run and possession of a controlled substance. He also faces additional charges from the earlier hit-and-run in Santa Ana.

Remember to be careful out there.  And, if you ever have questions for a DUI specialist orange county, call me at (877) 568-2977 anytime.

Our Orange County DUI Lawyers found a press release by the Irvine Police Department regarding their a DUI/sobriety checkpoint during the evening hours on Saturday December 19, 2009. The checkpoint was located at Irvine Center Drive and Hubble in the City of Irvine. As part of the California Holiday DUI Crackdown Campaign, the purpose of the checkpoint was to deter impaired driving and hold accountable those driving under the influence.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) helped sponsor and provide support to these checkpoints. According to MADD, in one survey, 79% of the public approved of sobriety checkpoints.

Funding for the special enforcement campaign, December 16, 2009 through January 3, 2010 came from a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

This checkpoint was staffed by sworn officers and professional staff from the Irvine Police Department, and by MADD volunteers.

Look at these numbers:

Vehicles Stopped      Sobriety Tests      DUI Arrests      Citations Issued      Vehicles Towed

347                                          4                     ZERO (0)                     14                                               5

347 vehicles and drivers (not to mention other passengers) inconvenienced, traffic delayed, for zero arrests?  For 14 traffic tickets to be issued?  As I’ve said so many times, DUI checkpoints are a waste of time, and aren’t even as effective as the more useful saturation patrols.  But still, based upon MADD pressure and federal money, they persist.

I often get the argument, “but Robert, if even one drunk driver is taken off the road…”, an argument that has its own logical fallacy, but in this case, as with many others, what if not even one drunk driver is taken off the road?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Police: Twitter used to avoid DUI checkpoints (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Seal Beach: New Year’s DUI Checkpoints (cehwiedel.com)
• Cops Post Mug Shots of DUI Suspects (abcnews.go.com)

IRVINE, CA (September 6, 2009): The Irvine Police Department conducted a sobriety/driver’s license checkpoint during the evening hours on Saturday September 5, 2009. The checkpoint was located at Jamboree and Birch in the City of Irvine. As part of the Drunk Driving: Over the Limit, Under Arrest national DUI crackdown campaign, the purpose of the checkpoint was to deter impaired driving and hold accountable those driving under the influence.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) estimates that communities which consistently use sobriety checkpoints experience as much as eight times the reduction in DUI incidents as communities that use roving patrols alone. Checkpoints have been highly effective in educating the public to the hazards of impaired driving. According to MADD, in one survey, 79% of the public approved of sobriety checkpoints.

The California Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Transportation Administration have given support for this project.

This checkpoint was staffed by sworn officers and professional staff from the Irvine Police Department, and by community volunteers.

No significant traffic delays were encountered as a result of the checkpoint.

Vehicles Stopped Sobriety Tests DUI Arrests Citations Issued

338 11 3 9

For further information contact Lt. John Hare at (949) 724-7112.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Quebec drunk driver of 4 kids fined $2,000 (cbc.ca)
• DUI arrests of women up 30 percent in decade (cnn.com)
• Women Drinking More, DUIs Up While Falling Among Men (huffingtonpost.com)