Our client was driving at night without headlights. After being stopped, client was observed with odor of alcohol, red watery eyes and slurred speech. After failing 5 field sobriety tests, client blew into a portable breath test machine with results of .145/.145. Client was then arrested for DUI / Drunk Driving and transported to a nearby DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoint for a breath test. At the checkpoint, client blew a .15/.16/.16. After a jury trial, client was found not guilty of both driving under the influence of alcohol and driving with a .08 or greater in client’s blood. Client will also have previous driver’s license suspension set aside by the DMV. (The case results posted on this page do not guarantee the success or outcome of your case. Every DUI case is unique and the results may vary from case to case.)

According to a recent editorial (5/27/10) in the Los Angeles Daily News by Sarah Longwell, managing director of the American Beverage Institute in Washington, D.C. it may be time to rethink the usage of DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints. Ms. Longwell states that “it is not unusual for an all-night checkpoint to stop 1,000 drivers and make only one or two – frequently zero – drunk driving arrests.” She also states that speeding has now replaced drunk driving as the No. 1 cause of fatalities on the highway. Finally, Ms. Longwell questions why local governments pour money into costly and ineffective checkpoints while ignoring serious other threats to public safety such as texting and falling asleep while driving.

The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) has announced that 2010 will be the “Year of the Checkpoint”. OTS will be providing a record $8,000,000 in grant funding to 148 law enforcment agencies for DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints throughout the state of California. The funding is for more than 2,500 sobriety checkpoints. More than 250 DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints will take place statewide between December 18, 2009 and January 3, 2010. The funding is a whopping 47% increase from 2009 where there will be over 1,700 DUI / Drunk Driving checkpoints statewide. No doubt there will be an increase in DUI / Drunk Driving arrests in 2010 which will also result in more fines received by counties statewide and substantial overtime pay to police officers who work the checkpoints and testify in court. The monies generated will most like go to reduce county budgets deficits as well.

The Salinas, California, Police Department is setting up an unusual Thanksgiving checkpoint. They will be giving away between 150 to 300 turkeys to drivers who pass through their DUI / DRUNK DRIVING checkpoint as long as they don’t get arrested for DUI / DRUNK DRIVING. For those drivers who choose to avoid the checkpoint, perhaps they can receive a chicken!