Posts Tagged ‘Recreation’

Are DUI checkpoints worth the time and money?

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

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Handling Los Angeles DUI cases, and cases in the OC, our Orange County DUI Lawyers have written about the effectiveness of DUI checkpoints a lot.

Lodi, CA.  Apr. 2 – Are DUI checkpoints worth the time and money? Our recent front page story asked that question, and it is a fair one.

Lodi police have been running the checkpoints through a grant from the state Office of Traffic Safety. Lodi gets $102,000 to operate the checkpoints and so-called saturation patrols.

The goal is worthy: Get drunken drivers off the streets of Lodi.

The reality, though, has raised several issues, including:

The checkpoints are expensive, drawing 14 officers, all on overtime, for an estimated cost of $4,400 per checkpoint.

The results are rather unimpressive. The checkpoints have produced an average of 2.8 DUI arrests each — about $1,500 per arrest. (That may be in part because many local bar owners learn quickly of the checkpoints and alert their customers.)

In contrast, the checkpoints have caused many cars to be towed and impounded because their drivers are unlicensed. The average has been 20 cars per checkpoint. Most of these drivers aren’t inebriated, just unlucky. They have to cough up big bucks — one local car owner paid $1,600 — to get their vehicle back. And they have to wait 30 days for that privilege. No doubt some have lost not just a car, but a job. A young car owner told reporter Fernando Gallo that she and her boyfriend had to walk home because the police denied her use of a cell phone to call for a ride after her Honda was towed away. That doesn’t strike us as the most courteous reaction.

So-called saturation patrols are more efficient at catching DUI drivers than checkpoints, but Lodi police have to run the checkpoints as part of the deal with the state safety office.

Posts Tagged ‘Recreation’

Are DUI checkpoints worth the time and money?

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

Claremont PD will be conducting a DUI/Drivers License Checkpoint on Friday, September 4, 2009 targeting those who still don’t heed the message to designate a sober driver before their first drink is taken. Funding for the Checkpoints is through a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The location and time of the DUI checkpoint have not been announced. The press release announcing the checkpoint was sent from the Claremont Police Department to the Orange County DUI Specialists at our firm.

Posts Tagged ‘Recreation’

Are DUI checkpoints worth the time and money?

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

San Diego, CA – San Diego County Law Enforcement is urging the public to help keep the streets safe this St. Patrick’s Day by drinking responsibly and designating a sober driver before heading to a local celebration or pub.

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that over the past five years, 851 people lost their lives in motor vehicles crashes during the St. Patrick’s Day holiday. In 2007, alcohol attributed to 1,489 deaths in California with 30,641 injured, many still suffering with life long disabilities

San Diego County Law Enforcement Agencies will be sending special DUI saturation patrols out Tuesday night to stop and arrest those who drink and drive.

“St. Patrick’s Day is supposed to be a time to celebrate Irish heritage and gather with friends, but it can quickly end in tragedy due to impaired driving,” said Sheriff Bill Kolender. “If you plan on drinking, don’t rely on luck to keep you safe or to keep you out of trouble. Be responsible and take appropriate precautions.”

Sheriff Kolender recommends the following tips:

• Plan a safe way home before your celebrations begin

• If you plan to get a ride home with someone else, designate a sober driver before any drinking begins

• If you’re impaired, use a taxi, call a sober friend or family member, or use public transportation so you are sure to get home safely

• If you happen to see a drunk driver on the road, don’t hesitate – Call 9-1-1

• If you know someone who is about to drive their car or ride their motorcycle while impaired, take their keys and help them make other arrangements to get to where they are going safely

“Driving impaired or riding with someone who is impaired is an extremely risky and dangerous thing to do,” said Christopher J. Murphy, Director of the California Office of Traffic Safety. “If you plan on using alcohol, plan ahead with a sober driver. And remember, friends don’t let friends drive drunk.”

Posts Tagged ‘Recreation’

Are DUI checkpoints worth the time and money?

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

From the Daily Pilot:

“The next time you take a party boat out for a cruise outside Newport Harbor, you may want to assign a DB — designated boater.

With a new bill under review in the state Senate, authorities may soon have the authority to suspend boaters’ licenses if they’re caught operating a vessel while intoxicated.

In a bill introduced last month and set to appear before senators next week, Sen. John Benoit (R-Bermuda Dunes) is looking to reauthorize the DMV to suspend boaters’ licenses for boating under the influence, or BUI, convictions.

The DMV has been treating BUIs like their driving counterparts since the mid-1990s, but a court of appeals ruling last year deemed they do not have the authority.

Benoit’s bill gives the DMV that authority and tacks on a alcohol-awareness class just like you’d get if you were convicted of a DUI.

Benoit has experience in DUI enforcement and stresses the need for safety in our waterways. Local harbor patrol officials couldn’t agree more.

“Anybody who operates a vessel has a great deal of responsibility on the waterways. It’s not only for themselves, it’s for the occupants of that vessel,” said Sgt. Steve McCormick of the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol in Newport Beach.

“While [boating] is a recreational activity, there are still numerous responsibilities the skipper must take into account.”

Harbor authorities have plenty of leeway when it comes to enforcing drunk boaters, officials said. They can range from simple warnings to citations to arrests, depending on the circumstances, McCormick said.

According to the most recent report by the Department of Boating and Waterways, there were 55 boating accident fatalities in California waters in 2007, half in Southern California waters.

Twenty victims of the statewide total were found to be under the influence of alcohol. Three-quarters involved capsized boats or people falling overboard. Of those who drowned, eight in 10 were not wearing life jackets, according to the report.

Nearly half of the alcohol-related fatalities in the water in 2007 were passengers.

According to the report, “The designated driver concept, which is popular in some boating safety literature, has its roots in automobile safety where the possibility of falling overboard and drowning (or swimming too close to the propeller) is not a factor.”

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Posts Tagged ‘Recreation’

Are DUI checkpoints worth the time and money?

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

Image via Wikipedia

Police: Mom drove with kids, beer

LONG BEACH — A mother of two was arrested for drunken driving after she was caught driving with an open bottle of beer in her lap and her two kids sleeping in the back seat at a random DUI checkpoint over the weekend, authorities said Tuesday.

Joyce Lopez, 21, of Huntington Beach was arrested for drunken driving after her blood alcohol level registered more than double the .08 legal limit, said Sgt. Tom Marcoux of the Long Beach Police Department‘s Patrol Division.

“As soon as the officer saw her he noticed the kids in the back, he noticed the strong odor of alcohol, he noticed the bottle of beer in her lap and he (thought) `Oh my God,’ ” Marcoux said Tuesday.

While Lopez was booked on a DUI charge at about 9:47 p.m. Saturday, her two children — who appeared to be 1 and 7 years old — were taken into protective custody by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services, the sergeant said.

“Who knows, maybe (having her children taken by county authorities) will turn her around,” Marcoux said. “It’s lucky for those kids that we got them out of that car before anything really bad happened.”

Lopez pleaded no contest at the Long Beach Superior Court Monday to all the misdemeanor counts filed against her — including driving under the influence, driving under the influence with a minor in the vehicle and child endangerment — City Prosecutor Tom Reeves said Tuesday.

Reeves said Lopez was placed on three years’ probation and fined more than $400 after she entered her no contest plea — considered the same as a guilty plea by criminal courts. Lopez was also given credit for two days served in jail and released from custody Monday, Reeves said.

Marcoux said Lopez was chosen at random to be screened in a DUI checkpoint conducted by the LBPD Saturday night at Pacific Coast Highway and Loynes Drive from 6 p.m. Saturday until 2 a.m. Sunday.

During the eight-hour operation, more than 2,000 vehicles passed through the checkpoint and more than 600 were screened. Of the vehicles screened, four drivers were arrested for driving under the influence — including Lopez — and 18 drivers were issued traffic citations for various offenses, Marcoux said.

Posts Tagged ‘Recreation’

Are DUI checkpoints worth the time and money?

Thursday, April 14th, 2011

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I was able to directly observe the Garden Grove and Huntington Beach DUI checkpoints over the weekend.  Another attorney went through the Aliso Viejo DUI checkpoint and had the following report:

“…As I pull up, the sign reads “Sobriety, DL checkpoint ahead.”  OK, they are checking us for CDLs (California Driver’s License) now. As I pull up, there is a single lane marked by a temporary stop sign and manned by 4 of OCSDs (Orange County Sheriff’s Department) finest. The officer tells me to roll down the window.  I do.  She announces that they are running a sobriety checkpoint and checking for driver’s licenses.  She then asks me where i am coming from.  I tell her that is none of her business.  I then ask her on what authority is she pulling over every car to check licenses.  Blank stare.  She repeats that this is a sobriety checkpoint and a driver’s license checkpoint.  I tell her I heard her the first time and, again, on what authority is she checking every car’s license?  She asks me if I have been drinking.  I tell her I am not going to answer that.  She orders me out of the car.

Now, I had the chance to watch what they were doing.  Every car gets pulled and checked for a license. some cars then move off to the right to go through “secondary screening.”  She claimed, when I pressed her, that it was every 5th car.  It was not.  In fact, I asked her why I was being pulled out of my car when I clearly was not the 5th car (the car 2 in front of me was just made to do the same thing).  She did not answer.

OK, so she orders me out and I ask why (now I am probably flirting with a 148, (PC 148 is resisting arrest or interfering with the lawful duties of an officer), but I was dying to challenge “lawful duty”).  She repeats, in command tone, get out of the car.  Not wanting to post bail, I do.

As I get out, another officer jumps in my car (!) and pulls it away.  I announce: “he does not have my permission to be in my car!”  I am ignored.

She directs me to the sidewalk while asking me questions.  I repeatedly tell her that I am not submitting to any FSTs and I will not answer her questions.  If I committed an infraction, she can cite me and I will be on my way.  If she feels she has probable cause for a DUI arrest, have at it.  She ignores me and commands me to sit on her bumper.  I do.

HGN.  She breaks out the pen and, at lightning speed, starts moving it horizontally, passing my face 7-8 times.  Stymied, she starts the vertical nystagmus.  My defense was too great (and the fact that I just happened not to have consumed an alcoholic beverage in the last 2 weeks and I don’t use drugs) and I foiled her again.  Not one to give up however, she starts–I am not BSing you—waiving the pen around in a circular fashion around and around my face.  I thought she was going to poke me in the eye.  Pissed, I announce that this will not establish any kind of Nystagmus and I am finished with this nonsense.  Realizing that she has just been outflanked, she takes my CDL to her car and runs it.  No warrants!

She approaches me again, hands my CDL back and sternly advises me that this unpleasantness could all have been avoided if I had just cooperated with her.  I advised her that she was not correct, it could have been avoided if she had cooperated with the Constitution.    ”