Posts Tagged ‘Legal drinking age’

Orange County DUI Checkpoint location in Costa Mesa April 2, 2010

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

The Costa Mesa Police Department will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint this Friday, April 2, targeting drunk drivers, underage drinking, and unlicensed drivers.

The checkpoint will be at Newport Boulevard/Flower Street from 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.

Law enforcement officers from police departments across the region will be working to arrest impaired drivers and teenagers who have illegally used drugs and alcohol.

“I can think of nothing more tragic than being responsible for an accident that seriously injures or takes the life of an innocent person.

Drinking and driving destroys families and has life long implications for those that we arrest. Events such as Spring break, school proms and graduation nights that should be a fun time for our youth often turn into tragedy.

We will do what we can to prevent that by taking an aggressive, zero tolerance approach when it comes to intoxicated drivers,” said Christopher Shawkey, Chief of the Costa Mesa Police Department.

The Costa Mesa Police Department will dedicate special DUI patrols focusing on drunk drivers and deploying officers immediately to calls where underage drinking has been reported.

College students, high school teens and others who break alcohol laws will be arrested for DUI and/or underage drinking.

Those hosting underage drinking parties, serving or selling alcohol to those under 21 will be in court while others are celebrating sober.

In 2008, California law enforcement reported 165 teens/young adults, ages 14-20, were killed and 4407 injured in alcohol involved collisions.

Those stopped and found driving with any alcohol in their systems are subject to automatic license suspension.

The limit for DUI charges is lower than that for adults – .05 BAC.

For many young teens 1 or 2 drinks will put them well over the legal limit, facing jail time and penalties in the thousands of dollars.

This DUI enforcement operation is funded by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Please Report Drunk Driving, Call 9-1-1!

Posts Tagged ‘Legal drinking age’

Orange County DUI Checkpoint location in Costa Mesa April 2, 2010

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Sobriety Checkpoints Counter Underage Drinking

UC Irvine has launched its first campus wide intervention against binge and underage drinking.

UCI Health Education and UCI Police Department (UCIPD) are working together to implement a program to minimize alcohol consumption and keep students safe.

UCI is currently seeking a $34,000 grant to help cover the cost of four DUI checkpoints and six DUI saturation patrols. These checkpoints will take place over the course of the year.

Recently, UCIPD held its first sobriety checkpoint on campus. While no one was arrested, they hoped this would encourage students to be more responsible and instill UCI’s zero tolerance policy.

Additionally, UCIPD has started the Safe Onto Sober program where arrested individuals will be placed in holding cells at police departments in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach. Here they will remain in holding until they sober up.

Arrested individuals will also be required to attend the Health Education Center’s alcohol education program.

UCIPD encourages people to utilize this program if their friends or guests have had too much to drink. Officers will assess whether the individual needs medical attention or should be detained until he or she sobers up.

UCIPD reminds students this program is intended not to get students in trouble but rather to help and educate them.

Related articles:

• Seal Beach: Results of DUI Checkpoint (cehwiedel.com)
• Car Seizures At DUI Checkpoints Raise Money, Legal Questions (huffingtonpost.com)
• LAPD Ups DUI Patrols and Checkpoints for Super Bowl Sunday (laist.com)
• CA Sobriety Checkpoints Are Becoming More About Profit Than Drunk Driving (dvorak.org)