”

Jeff Daniel Dahl said he got the party started early Friday night with a couple cans of Natural Ice and dinner at Del Taco.

Cheap, but effective.

A frequent flier in California’s justice system, Dahl, 30, has spent the past seven years in and out of state prison and county jail for burglary, driving under the influence, receiving stolen property and drugs. On Friday night, those pre-party drinks landed Dahl back behind bars and his girlfriend – six-months pregnant – on the sidewalk, holding a car seat and a friend. Their car ended up behind bars too, impounded for 30 days.

Dahl might have flown under the radar of Johnny Law – but Cypress was a bad place for alcohol and drivers to mix on Friday night. More than 1,300 drivers were herded through Cypress Police Department’s sobriety checkpoint on Valley View Boulevard at Phyllis Drive. A motor cop named Rodney DeYoung nabbed Dahl – and after running him through the field sobriety paces, slapped on the cuffs.

Most people aren’t drivers of the year stone-cold sober, and while you might look a lot better after a few drinks, their driving skills don’t improve with a little liquor lubrication.

Drinking and driving kills.

Last year, an estimated 12,998 people died in alcohol-related traffic crashes in the United States, according to Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Three in 10 Americans will be involved in an alcohol-related crash in their lives. Whether you’re the one who downed six Irish car bombs and got behind the wheel or you were just driving home from the gym. You’re involved.

Paid for by grants from the state Office of Traffic Safety, the checkpoints make a point. Driving drunk won’t be tolerated. Sure, you might get more drunks off the road unleashing a ton of cops on city streets and let them do what they do best. But times are tight – even in law enforcement – and making a public stand against something so deadly and so preventable can pay larger dividends in the long run.

So for six hours, Cypress cops armed with flashlights stood on the median and talked to drivers, peeked in car windows looking for drugs, booze and guns, and tried to get the message across. Volunteers from MADD, including Haze Saliture, whose 16-year-old daughter Allison was killed by a drunk driver in 1994, passed out fliers.

Two people were arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence. One person was arrested on suspicion of drug possession. Two more were arrested on warrants. Nine drivers were cited for not having a license. One was cited for driving on a suspended license. Eleven vehicles were impounded.

Just down the road in Costa Mesa, 894 drivers went through a sobriety checkpoint at 19th Street and Pomona Avenue. One person was arrested for driving under the influence. Three drivers were cited for not having a license. Six more were cited for driving on a suspended license. Ten vehicles were impounded.

Stats are one thing. But who knows how many drunken drivers they made change their minds even before they got to the bar?”  (From the OC Register).

The Costa Mesa Police Department today announced a DUI checkpoint here in Orange County, scheduled for November 22, 2008.  The Daily Pilot put up a story about the checkpoint in their newspaper also. 

Here are the details:

Costa Mesa police will conduct a DUI and driver’s license checkpoint Saturday on Newport Boulevard.

From 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., police will have a checkpoint for northbound traffic on Newport Boulevard and Flower Street, police said. 

So far this year, Costa Mesa police have arrested more than any other agency in Orange County — more than 830 suspected drunken drivers.  (Last year, Costa Mesa Police alone were responsible for over 2/3 of all Orange County DUI Arrests).  Showing how political this whole process is, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), will have volunteers, and a crashed car trailer on hand to give drivers a visual reminder of the dangers of driving drunk.

Funding for the checkpoint was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety.  As I have mentioned in other posts, DUI checkpoints are not nearly as effective as patrol cars looking for specific driving patterns from motorists.  However, they get funding, and they give MADD volunteers something to do, and to raise money for.

If you ever need a Costa Mesa DUI Attorney, or have questions regarding an Orange County DUI, feel free to call me at 714-568-1560 anytime.  I know all about DUI defenses.