Articles Tagged with labor day weekend drunk driving

Almost all law enforcement agencies are out in full force during the Labor Day weekend. The period between Memorial Day and Labor Day is when drunk driving enforcement is at its highest and strongest. According to The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), California’s 41 countywide “Avoid DUI” task forces, as well as 111 individual local jurisdictions, are mounting special enforcement campaigns from Aug. 19 to Sept. 5. This increased enforcement includes additional officers patrolling the roadways and a substantial increase in DUI checkpoints.

Under state law, law enforcement agencies are required report where they plan to have a DUI checkpoint. Information about these sobriety checkpoints may be found in local papers and on news websites. For example, KPCC reports that in Los Angeles there will be checkpoints at Figueroa and 9th streets, Manchester Avenue and Broadway and at Sunset Boulevard and Hoover Street. This campaign is titled “Avoid the 100” because there are 100 police agencies participating in this special task force.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that nearly 11,000 people die in alcohol-related car accidents every year. Clearly, drunk driving is a serious problem in the United States and it is important to keep our roadways safe this holiday weekend. However, sobriety checkpoints and holiday crackdowns can result in wrongful arrests. Those who are arrested will potentially face all the serious consequences that come with a drunk driving charge and conviction. A DUI conviction could result in jail time, probation, loss of driver’s license, mandatory enrollment in an alcohol education program and installation of an ignition interlock device.