The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department’s Traffic Services Detail will be conducting a DUI checkpoint in West Hollywood on Friday from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m.
The checkpoint is being publicized by the Sheriff’s Department and the City of Los Angeles to increase awareness of the dangers of impaired driving and to encourage sober designated drivers.
The West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station offers the following tips:
— Even one drink can impair your judgment and increase the risk of getting arrested for driving drunk — or worse, the risk of having a crash while driving.
— If you will be drinking, do not plan on driving. Plan ahead; designate a sober driver before the party begins.
— If you have been drinking, do not drive. Call a taxi, phone a sober friend or family member, use public transportation or call one of your local sober ride home programs.
— Be responsible. If someone you know is drinking, do not let that person get behind the wheel.
— If you see an impaired driver on the road, contact law enforcement. Your actions may save someone’s life, and inaction could cost a life.
— One transportation alternative for people enjoying nightlife in West Hollywood is the PickUp, which is a free alternative to driving. The PickUp runs on Fridays and Saturdays from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. and on Sundays from 2 p.m. until 10 p.m. along Santa Monica Boulevard in a four-mile loop, with 15 stops in each direction between Robertson Boulevard and La Brea Avenue. The PickUp arrives at stops every 15 minutes and features beat mixes by Derek Monteiro.
The Supreme Court upheld these checkpoints only if they gave drivers enough notice to avoid them. Otherwise, it’s unreasonable search and seizure.
Pat, one of the reasons they advertise is to get people to stay off the road in the first place. The police would much rather have those who would have otherwise gotten behind the wheel after drinking plan ahead and leave the car at home then have to arrest them for DUI. If they publicize these checkpoints, it prevents the problem in the first place and serves as an educational opportunity.
Pat Dixon, where does it give the DUI checkpoint locale in this story. I missed it. I think it is saying, there is going to be one, so mind your p’s and q’s. It is called prevention.
wouldn’t it make more sense to have these DUI checkpoints without advertising them? If I drank and knew that there was a checkpoint at Santa Monica and Robertson, well I just might take Melrose… It’s like saying, there is going to be a robbery on Laurel Avenue and Norton on Friday night… Uh… what am I missing.