The Orange County Sheriff’s Department Traffic Division made a dozen arrests and issued my than 40 traffic citations in an overnight checkpoint in Aliso Viejo Friday, Feb. 9.
More than 700 cars were screened at the DUI Checkpoint set up at Aliso Creek Road near Park Plaza from Friday night through the early morning hours on Saturday.
Three drivers were given field sobriety tests, and two DUI arrests were made. Nine other drivers were arrested for license violations, including eight unlicensed drivers and one driving on a suspended license.
Forty-four traffic citations also were issued as part of the checkpoint effort.
A grant provided by the California Office of Traffic Safety allows the Sheriff’s Department to host various checkpoints throughout the year.
While pulling impaired and unlicensed drivers off the road to keep the community safe remains one goal of these checkpoints, they also serve to educate the public on the dangers of drunken or drugged driving.
High-visibility enforcement using both checkpoints and saturation patrols have proven to lower the number of persons killed and injured in alcohol or drug-related crashes. Research shows that crashes involving an impaired driver can be reduced by up to 20 percent when well-publicized, proactive DUI checkpoints are routinely conducted.
